The Witness
by AlliDee
Summary: Frank and Joe Hardy fly down to Kansas City where they are assigned to watch a witness around their age until the trial. Only problem is: the witness doesn't want to be baby-sat. The brothers find themselves in more trouble then they could possibly imagine. Frank wonders if he has a shot with Nancy and even Joe finds a girl he's not sure he can handle.
1. The Girl With The Wig

**INT. SMALL HOTEL ROOM – RIVER HEIGHTS – NIGHT**

" _Frank Hardy, are you peeking?" Nancy Drew accused._

" _No!" Frank denied, but he felt his face flush. "How much longer do I have to hold my arm up like this?"_

" _Just a little longer," She smiled._

 _Frank sat with his eyes closed and his arm held parallel to the floor._

 _Here they were, the two of them. For once not on a case. She had asked him to come. Insisted._

" _What did you want to talk about anyway? Another case?"_

" _Not exactly." She wrapped a bracelet around his wrist and fastened it. "You can open your eyes now."_

 _Frank opened his eyes and looked at the bracelet. It was tightly woven blue ribbon; it looked handmade._

" _Did you make this?"_

" _Yeah, well mostly. Bess and George helped. See Bess learned about these bracelets you can weave to give someone good energy and protect them and, well, I thought of you."_

" _Oh," Frank wasn't sure how he felt about this. His heart was beating faster. "I didn't think you believed in that kind of stuff."_

" _Well I don't, not really," Nancy said quickly, defensively. "So I had George help me make it a little more practical."_

 _Frank waited._

 _Nancy took his hand and unfastened the bracelet. Then she twisted the left clasp backwards and slipped it over the ribbon revealing a lock pick had been embedded inside._

 _Frank gave a nod of approval. "I could see where this would be useful in our line of work. Is that why you made one for me and not Ned?"_

 _He and Callie had been having problems. Were Ned and Nancy fighting too?_

" _It has nothing to do with Ned, we're fine." It was like she had read his mind. "Do you want it or not?"_

" _Of course I do." He snagged it back from her. "Thank you."_

" _You're welcome." After a second of silence, she added, "I'm glad you like it."_

 _Frank! A loud voice exploded in his ear, followed by a sharp pain in his shoulder._

 **I/E. RENTAL CAR – KANSAS CITY** – **SUNSET** – **ONE MONTH LATER**

"Frank!" Joe hissed again, Frank expressed an 'Ow,' but Joe talked right over him. "Stop daydreaming about Callie and her new man while feeling sorry for yourself. It's a little depressing."

"I wasn't daydreaming abou-"

"Plus, we have more important things to worry about. Like the van that's been tailing us since we left the airport."

"What? But we just got here."

"Exactly my point."

Frank fingered his bracelet; he hadn't taken it off. "How close are we to the local?"

"A couple blocks?"

"And you haven't been able to lose them?" Frank didn't bother to hide the amusement in his tone.

Joe pressed on the gas.

"Shut up, they obviously know the area better than I do."

"Uh huh," Frank didn't sound convinced of the reason. He looked around at the busy sidewalks and open businesses that lined the streets. "Let's lose them in the crowd."

"Sure. If I can manage to find somewhere to park."

It was the first Friday in May and Kansas City night life was buzzing. The Crossroads were packed. Finally, Joe found a single spot near the Kauffman Center. The van was forced to pass, but not before letting two passengers out.

"Run!" Joe and Frank split up. It would be easier to lose them if they were two targets instead of one.

Frank ran down Broadway Boulevard and jumped into a line standing outside Los Tules _._ Two girls stood in line in front of him.

"How's the food here?" He asked them, keeping an eye out for his pursuer.

They turned to look at him. "Well the line should give you a pretty good clue," The one with a long blond fishtail braid and pumps said. "Either slow service or great food."

"Aw, come on, Quinn." The second girl smiled. She had straight brown hair. Her heels didn't do much for her height.

"What? A little mystery can't hurt," Quinn winked at Frank.

"I suppose not," He grinned.

"The salsa's great. Maybe not as good as Manny's, but," The second girl nodded towards her friend, "She thinks she practically lives there."

"I do."

His pursuer reached the line. He looked through the crowd.

"Manny's," Frank repeated. "That's actually where I'm headed."

"Then why are you here?" Quinn questioned him.

The pursuer failed to spot Frank and continued down the road.

"Well, honestly, I saw you two beautiful ladies and had to say hi," he excused the lie.

"Aw, that's sweet," The short girl ate it up. "You want to eat with us?"

"I would. But I have to meet my brother."

"Oh." The disappointment was clear.

The line shifted forward.

"Well, I guess I ought to get going. Don't want to be later than I already am."

Frank ran off in the direction he had come.

"You're running the wrong way!" Quinn's voice yelled after him.

 **EXT. DEAD END ALLEY – KANSAS CITY – BASICALLY NIGHT NOW**

As soon as Joe turned the corner into the alleyway he knew he had made a mistake. He was a little directionally challenged, but never this bad. He decided he didn't like this border town or his pursuer or the van that conveniently blocked them in and let two more men that could have been fullbacks for the NFL out its back doors. No, he didn't like Kansas City at all.

"I'm sorry if I cut you off," Joe started, buying time. "See, I'm not really from around here, and I-"

"Save it," The original pursuer sneered. He pulled out an automatic rifle with a silencer.

"Wow," Joe raised his hands as if surrendering. "No need to escalate things. I don't want any trouble."

"Shut up," The gunman growled.

Joe bit his lip.

"Turn around."

Joe looked defiant. He glanced around for a chance to escape. The brick wall behind him was 12 feet tall. A locked door to his left, he already tried to get into. A fire escape he couldn't reach. Next to the fire escape, even higher, was a metal deck. Potted plants lined it's rim. On the ground was a dumpster with wheels and a stack of crates. Both too far away.

"Turn around!"

"Alright, alright," Joe sounded more inconvenienced than frightened. Very slowly he turned around, praying for a miracle or at least a bullet proof vest. He closed his eyes and waited for the sound of a gun.

Instead, he heard the sound of tires squealing and the van rampaging down the tight squeeze of the alley. Joe turned around in time to see the two full backs jump out the way.

Frank was driving the van!

The gunman held his ground. He calmly fired at Frank. The windshield cracked and the bullet whizzed past Frank's head and buried itself into the seat behind him.

The gunman fired four more rounds, this time at the tires and the engine. The van came to a crashing halt just a few feet in front of the gun man. The gunman didn't even flinch. Even Frank had to give him credit for that.

"Get out of the van," He growled.

Then, suddenly, the gunman turned just in time to see Joe pushing the dumpster right into him. The hit was solid and the gun skittered away.

The victory was short lived, because the two fullbacks were ripping Frank out of the driver's seat in a similar, but harsher way than Frank did to the previous driver.

"Frank!" Joe yelled and ran to the rescue. Fullback One had Frank's arms and legs spread and was holding him still as Fullback Two delivered a nasty punch.

Joe jumped on Fullback Two's back and held him in a headlock. Simultaneously, Frank threw his head back into Fullback One's jaw startling his opponent just enough to wiggle free.

Joe released all the air in his lungs just before Fullback Two slammed Joe into the center of a brick wall and fullback sandwich. Joe's grip around the Fullback's neck didn't budge, if anything it tightened. Fullback Two tried again, slamming Joe even harder. This time as Joe collided with the wall, he saw the fire escape had been dropped, and a girl with a long blond braid jumped the last few feet to the ground from it.

Frank landed a pretty good punch, and was about to block the return when he saw Quinn running towards them. He was about to yell at her to get help, when he doubled over from a sucker punch.

Quinn ran towards the gunman who had started coming to and had spotted his gun. As the gunman rose, Quinn delivered a solid pump to the man's throat and he was down again. She pulled a disposable medical glove out of her pocket and slid it on. She carefully picked up the gun and pointed.

Frank, Joe, and the two fullbacks froze.

"Quinn?" Frank questioned.

Joe looked at Frank funny. He knew her?

"Okay, this is how it's going to be," Quinn said ignoring Frank and holding the gun steady. She pointed it at Frank, "Pretty Boy and," She shifted the gun towards Joe still on the Fullback's back, "Monkey Boy are coming with me. And you two NFL wannabe's," The gun settled on Fullback Joe held, "are going to spread your hands on that trashed van of yours while we get out of here."

The fullbacks looked defiant. Frank took a test step forward. The fullbacks didn't try to stop him. That was enough to convince Joe to jump off Fullback Two's back and get behind this girl.

Soon the scene was just as Quinn persisted. The two fullbacks had their hands spread across the van and Frank and Joe were starting up the fire escape. Satisfied with herself, Quinn hurled the gun over the tall wall at the back of the alleyway that had trapped Joe in the first place.

With the gun out of the picture, the two fullbacks raced towards them. Frank and Joe were climbing onto the small metal deck so they could pull the fire escape up to stop the renewed pursuit. Quinn scurried up, but not before Fullback had a hand wrapped around her the end of her braid and yanked.

Quinn gasped as the blond hair ripped away from her head, revealing an auburn pixie cut underneath. Quinn jumped from the fire escape to the deck as a stunned Joe pulled the fire escape up, while a stunned Frank helped her over the porch knocking a couple of the planted pots over, and while a stunned Fullback Two held a blond wig in his hand, and a stunned Fullback One was hit in the head by one the falling pots and passed out.

As Quinn was the only one not stunned, she quipped "Come on," And got back on the fire escape and started towards the roof, where she had come down from originally.

The two confused Hardy Boys glanced at each other then followed suit.

 **INT. STAIRWAY – KANSAS CITY – NIGHT**

The group had just made it to the roof when the cops arrived and took the driver, the fullbacks, and the gunman away in the back of their cars. Some Kansas City native enjoying their First Friday must have seen the fight and being a good Samaritan contacted the police.

On the way down the stairs, the recent events finally clicked in Joe's brain. "Why did you throw away the gun? We could have checked it for fingerprints and found out who those goons were."

"What are you guys, cops?" Quinn retorted, when she didn't get an answer she continued. "Look, I didn't think we needed the leverage anymore. If you want to go back and look for the gun, by all means, go." She ushered a hand back up the stairs.

Joe looked like he was about to do just that when Quinn kept talking.

"Maybe you can talk to the cops and explain to them why the goons were after you. Or you might even run into another goon looking for the gun too." She smirked. "Me? I'm getting out of here."

"Quinn," Frank said like he was trying to figure if that was even her real name. "Do you always carry rubber gloves around?"

She looked down at the glove she was wearing and lied. "I'm a little OCD."

The Hardy Boys knew it was a lie and suddenly were blocking her way down the stairs. They wanted some answers.

"Okay," She relented. "I just don't always like leaving my identity around. Is that a problem?"

"Only if you're some kind of criminal or something," Joe got straight to the point.

She laughed. "If I was a criminal, it would be pretty selfless of me to run after your friend here who was clearly running the wrong way to Manny's, watch him pull some man out of a van, see a fight, know that the alley was a dead end, go into the building, climb the stairs and get onto the roof _in these shoes_ , let down the fire escape, and rescue you two ungrateful boys." By the end she sounded frustrated. "Now, get out of my way." She practically shoved them aside and marched down the rest of the stairs and out the door.

After a moment or two in silence, Joe turned to his brother. "Well, Frank, where did you drag this one out from?"

* * *

 **Author Note: My writing style is loosely based on script writing format. Specifically in the titles. Some reviewers have wondered what INT. EXT. & I/E means. INT. for Interior scene. EXT. for Exterior scene. I/E. means the filmmaker would have to be prepared to shoot for both interior and exterior settings. Maybe when I'm all finished writing this I'll convert it completely to script and film it!**


	2. Red Herring

**Authors Note: Thank you Cameronmm and ILoveMom for the reviews. A second thanks to Story Favorite/Follower Smile Sweetly. Laugh Loudly. It means a lot! Hope you enjoy chapter 2.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew, but if I could, I would.**

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 **I/E. MANNY'S – KANSAS CITY – JUST PAST MIDNIGHT**

The crowds had thinned and businesses closed. Manny's was shut down for the night, but when the Hardy Boys knocked on the door, it opened. A tall man quickly ushered them inside. "Hi, Boys, thanks for coming. My name is Colby Mahner, Fox had to run back to bureau for a couple days."

Fox Deale was a friend of their fathers.

"Yeah, he said you needed some help," Frank stated.

"That's right," Colby confirmed. "I'm happy he was able to spare you two from the case he was working on."

"It was about finished anyway," Joe said sounding bored.

"Well, I won't waste your time," Colby led them up the stairs. "There have been several untraceable guns being bought and sold in Kansas City. We know a contractor, Gage Holmes is involved, we first came across him when we realized he manages the sewers and tunnels that run under the city were the same sewers and tunnels being used to smuggle the guns in and out. However we didn't have very much proof until we found a witness."

Colby stopped in front of the door at the top of the steps. "The problem is the witness doesn't really want to be here. See, she's Holmes's daughter and we are having a hard time keeping her locked down. We don't think he'll kill her, but if he finds her, Holmes' will definitely bring her underground until the trial is over. She's around both of your ages and your father says you're both very quick on your feet so we're hoping you can keep an eye on her for the next two weeks just until she testifies."

"Great. When do we meet her?" Joe asked.

"She and my other partner, Max, are just inside."

Colby opened the door revealing a baffled auburn and a bored man. "Frank and Joe Hardy meet Quinn Holmes and Max Miller."

Frank and Joe exchanged an incredulous look.

"These are the boys you pick to baby-sit me?" Quinn snorted. "They probably couldn't even handle themselves in an alley fight."

"Quinn," Colby was obviously unaware that they had already met. "These two boys are pretty well-known aspiring detectives. If anyone can keep track of you, they can."

"Ah, not cops," was all she said.

"You want me to take them to the hotel now, Mahner?" Max asked, he was itching to get out of there.

"No, it's okay. I'll take them. You go on home."

Quinn stepped closer to Frank.

"Have a good night Quinn," Max said frivolously as he passed her. "Good luck," he muttered to the Hardy Boys.

"He's had a rough month," Colby apologized for him.

When Colby turned away, Quinn whispered in Frank's ear. "Meet me on the roof in two hours."

She quickly pulled away when Max's head popped back up around the corner.

"Actually," He said, "Mind if I ride with you over there? I think I'm too tired to drive. Hotel for the night I suppose."

Colby shrugged, nonchalantly, but a little annoyance soaked through. "Whatever you think is best."

 **EXT. THE RALPHAEL HOTEL** **– KANSAS CITY – 3AM**

Quinn sat on the roof next to her hotel ice bucket and gazed out into the night. The ride to the hotel hadn't been horrible, if not awkward. Colby was silent for once as he drove. Max Miller's moody vibes pulsed from him. And she was squished in between the two brothers.

"You know, star gazing is normally more fulfilling in the country," Joe's voice pulled Quinn out of her calm collective.

There wasn't a star in the sky.

"You wanna know why you can't see stars in the sky in the city, Monkey Boy?"

Joe's head shook slightly with his sarcasm, "Oh, please tell."

"It cause they're all on the ground."

Joe gave her tight lip grin.

"You bring your little brother everywhere, Frank?"

"Now that you mention it," Frank started, while Joe protested that he wasn't that much younger.

"As much as I love good brother banter, I didn't ask you out here to talk constellations."

"What is it?" The Hardy Boys asked.

"I think there's something bigger going on than just the trial. Like another operation.. I need you guys not to worry about me and figure out what's going on."

"How come this seems awfully convenient?" Joe questioned. "You keep us distracted, while you sneak off and do.. _whatever_ it is that _you do_."

"You couldn't keep up with me if you tried. I can take care of myself, so I'm asking you to take care of what I can't."

"How can we even trust you?" Frank wondered out loud.

"Look in your suite for bugs. I think there's a mole in the group."

 **EXT. WESTPORT** **– KANSAS CITY – MID AFTERNOON – ONE WEEK LATER**

Watching Quinn was like training for a marathon, Joe Hardy mused. The girl ran five or six miles in a nonstop forty minute period every morning. Then she would shower, dress up in some disguise, (some days it was several), and the chase would begin. Quinn would do anything to try to lose them. She jumped out of cars, lose herself in crowds, scream at them in public attracting all sorts of unwanted attention. He had lost count of how many times a buff male would come up to her and ask if everything was okay. She always told some sob story about how he was an ex-boyfriend who wouldn't leave her alone. Joe had bruised ribs and a black eye.

She even pushed Frank in front of a bus once.

Despite all her efforts the Hardy Boys had kept up with her and couldn't believe what she was up to.

When Quinn wasn't trying to ditch them, she was volunteering her time at different organizations and charities. She was a completely different person; name, attitude, everything. The people she volunteered with loved her.

When Joe caught her volunteering at a soup kitchen and saw she was wearing the disposable gloves, he had to flush his cat burglar theory down the drain.

Today, they were jumping roofs.

Quinn turned around after landing her jump. "What, did we lose Frank already?"

"He's testing out a theory," Joe called back.

"Too bad," She was clearly enjoying herself. "I think he was finally starting to grasp the concept of cat and mouse."

She had no idea. "Why don't we call it a day?" Joe asked hopeful.

"Psshht." She started off running. "What'd be the fun in that?!"

Joe looked down at the gap in between the buildings. He took a deep breath, and a few steps back. This was the widest stretch yet.

Quinn's scream broke his concentration. "Joe!"

"Quinn!" She sounded terrified. "Don't worry, I'm coming!" Joe jumped.

Quinn was hanging off the side of the building by one arm. "Help!"

Joe leaned over the ledge grabbing her arm. "I got you. Try to reach your other hand up, I'll grab it."

She started to raise her other hand up. She was holding something. A bottle? That was when he noticed the rope, carabineers, and belays. She wasn't in any danger at all. Who knows when she rigged this building, but he had no doubt that she had done this before. Joe started to let go, but he was too late. The spray hit his eyes and it was agony. She pepper-sprayed him, then bounded down the wall, laughing.

 **INT. NURSING HOME: SPECIFICALLY MR. O'DELL'S ROOM** **– KANSAS CITY – 4:00PM**

Mr. O'Dell's room was rather small and shaped like a rectangle with a bathroom attached at the south end. Along one long side of the room the door was cracked open. The opposite wall had a window. The bed rested against the north end parallel to the long walls. At the south end of the bed a couple of chairs sat. Frank was seated in one. He had chatted with Mr. O'Dell, but now the old, blind man lay asleep, snoring lightly.

Frank glanced up from the pile of papers he was looking over when the door squeaked open and Quinn, wearing a shoulder length black wig, carrying a book, stuck her head in.

"Amanda, today isn't it?" Frank asked not quite managing to hide his pride. Even Nancy would be proud of his detective work he had accomplished in the single week.

Quinn glared at him and started to step out.

"Oh, wait, will ya? You're not gonna leave without reading the next chapter to Mr. O'Dell are you? He tells me you're reading his favorite book."

Her frown deepened. Mr. O'Dell was still asleep. She came every Thursday to read to him. But Frank didn't know that. "So I see your theory worked out. How'd you know I'd be here?"

"My lips are sealed."

She smacked her lips in return. "Welp, I guess I'll get out of here then. You can read him the next chapter." She set the book on the edge of the bed.

"Aw, come on. I have something to show you." When she didn't seem interested, he added, "It concerns our little bug problem."

"What'd you find out?"

Frank held out the file and she came in and snatched it. She quickly flipped it open for the information.

"Where's my brother anyway?"

She looked up from the file, opened her mouth , then closed it. She buried her head back into the file and said lightly, "Oh he's a little preoccupied at the moment."

Now it was Franks turn to frown at her.

She ignored the look. She was reading an obituary of a 13 year old girl. She gasped, "Max Miller's niece was killed by a drive-by shooting and, let me guess, the guns used were part of the smuggling ring?"

"You're good."

She shook her head. "Should he even be allowed to be on this case? No wonder he treats me like I'm a pimple he wants to pop."

"Keep going."

"There's more?" She flipped through the pages. "Mahner." Paused. Read. "My dad bought Colby's parent's City Sewer Inspection company? That can't mean much right? My dad's bought out several companies."

Frank didn't get a chance to answer, because Joe burst into the room, eyes red and swollen.

Frank stood up. "What happened to you?"

"She did!" Joe jabbed a finger at her.

"Oh, wow," Quinn was stunned. "You're mad."

"Mad?" He echoed, his voice rising, "Mad isn't even close to describing my emotions right now, how could you-!"

She shushed him. "You'll wake up Mr. O'Dell."

Joe spared a glance at the old man. "Frank, she pepper-sprayed me," he hissed. "Me! My face!"

The door to Mr. O'Dell's room slammed shut from the outside. The lock sliding made a clear click.

"Eh, 'Ello?" Mr. O'Dell was startled awake. "Who's there?"

The three young adults stared at the door.

"It's Amanda and some friends of mine," Quinn said distractedly.

"Oh, Amanda," The blind man suddenly became cheerful. "Is it Thursday already?"

"Yes, it is." Quinn whispered.

Joe rustled the door, but it wouldn't budge. He shook his head.

"Is everything okay?" Mr. O'Dell started reaching around.

"I'll try the lock pick Nancy got me." Frank whispered, but before he got a chance to take off the bracelet a capsule came crashing through the window.

"Down!" Frank yelled shoving Quinn and Joe.

"Mr. O'Dell!" Quinn cried, her jaw smacked the tile floor hard.

"Amanda?!"

A blinding light and a piercing sound wave erupted from the capsule.

Frank covered his ears, but it didn't help at all. He was as blind as Mr. O'Dell. He smelled something peculiar, was dizzy, and then lost consciousness altogether.

 **I/E. TRUCK– KANSAS CITY – 7:30PM**

Frank was still a little dizzy when he started to come to. He felt the rumbling beneath him and knew he was in a vehicle. He shifted his hands. They were cuffed. His legs felt free though.

"We don't need both of them." The gruff voice of the gunman from before was unmistakable.

Frank opened an eye just a sliver. The gunman and Frank's original pursuer were sitting at the tail of the truck on two crates. The bed of the truck was a box, like a semi. At the end of the truck was a flapping tarp, with a slit opening down the middle.

"You sure we couldn't get more money ransoming them too?"

Frank could see Quinn and Joe. They both lay limp, still out.

"No, you just can't win ransoming with the police. Not without a lot of planning. That's why were using her to get the money we deserve. We'll keep one brother alive as a bargaining chip. Serve the other on a platter to anyone we need to prove we're serious too."

Very carefully Frank unlocked his bracelet, turned the left clasp backwards, and slid it over the ribbon.

"Which one you think for the main course?"

Frank started picking at his hand cuffs.

The gunman looked back at the three. Frank froze.

"The younger brother," The gunman decided. "Get your gun ready. We'll do it now."

"Whatever you say, Boss." Frank's pursuer pulled a long briefcase onto his lap. He undid the latches and opened it revealing the heavy artillery inside. He started putting the gun together.

Very slowly, Frank went back to tinkering with his handcuffs.

The gunman sat Joe up against the side of the truck and started slapping the side of his face until Joe started to blink groggily.

Frank's pursuer jabbed the gun under Joe's throat which woke Joe up in an instant. The gunman saw Joe's survival instincts start to kick in and stopped them dead in their tracks. "Don't try anything."

Joe's eyes tilted away from Frank's pursuer to the gunman. "Well, you got out of jail fast," He said through gritted teeth.

The gunman actually chuckled. Then he said, "Wait. Before you kill him, I want to wake the other two up first."

When the gunman turned away from Frank and Joe to shake Quinn, Joe whipped his handcuffed wrists up knocking Frank's pursuer's gun arm out of the way.

Simultaneously, Frank leapt and tackled his original pursuer and the two flew out the moving vehicle through the opening in the tarp and onto the street.

 **INT. DREW RESIDENCE – RIVER HEIGHTS – 8:30PM**

When the phone rang, Nancy didn't think much of it. "Hello? This is Nancy."

"Nancy," Frank sounded relieved and out of breath.

"Frank? Where are you?"

"Phone booth," he told her. "I need you to come to Kansas City. There's a case," He took another deep breath. "A case I'm working on. No one can know you're meeting me."

"Okay." He sounded like he was in trouble. "Where do you want me to meet you?"

Silence.

"Frank?"

"Uh, Los Tules." Frank whispered, saying the first non case related place he could think of.

"What's going on?" She whispered, almost to herself.

"Look, Nancy, I'll explain it all when you get here, and if I don't show up," Frank froze and when he spoke again he was filled with regret and sorrow. "I love you."

Before Nancy could even register the last three words he spoke, she heard a _bang,_ glass shatter, and the phone drop.

"Frank!"

There was no answer.


	3. Listen to Your Heart

**I want to thank everyone for the awesome reviews. Shout out to my wonderful reviewers Mila, ReaderGirl0401, j, May 8th Guest, May 10th Guest, and GJFH. I also want to thank my followers and/or favoritors (for lack of a better word) I've gained since last chapter: beachgirlsrule, Wendylouwho10, lizzi3879, ReaderGirl0401, Nancy Drew24, and Soccerfan2014. You really are an inspiration! I had a lot of fun with the subtext this chapter so I hope you enjoy it too!**

 **Disclaimer: It apparently doesn't matter how fast I update, the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew still won't be mine. Quinn's an awesome O.C. though, right?**

* * *

 **INT. WAREHOUSE – KANSAS CITY – THE FOLLOWING AFTERNOON**

 _Six days until the trial._

Joe jerked awake drenched and blind.

The last thing he remembered was the gun pressed against his throat and then being ripped away when his big brother rammed the guy and the two had flown out the back of the moving truck. Then everything went black.

Now, he felt the soaked cold heavy fabric pressed and formed to his face. His wrists were handcuffed behind him, arms wrapped around a chair. Feet tied to individual legs. He breathed heavily, his heart raced. Joe closed his eyes and listened.

He heard footsteps on concrete floor. He heard a lighter being flicked. He heard a girl's angry muffled voice. And then he heard the sound of a camera flash.

Then suddenly his chair was being pushed from behind; it squeaked harshly against the concrete. He felt a sudden blast of heat like a bug, the sun, and a kid with a magnifying glass.

Someone grabbed his cuffs and pulled his arms back, Joe jerked his upper body towards his knees to compensate. He felt the handcuffs click and open and his hands were free. Joe moved on instinct. Instantaneously, he ripped off the stocking and tried to stand.

This time Joe was blinded by the spotlight pointed down at him. Two hands grabbed his shoulders and slammed him back down into the chair. He cried out and a handkerchief was swung around his face and used as a gag. Joe struggled against the hold and the handcuffs were reinstated. His eyes started to adjust just in time to see a hand coming straight towards his face.

 _Splash!_ Another bucket of cold water brought Joe back to his senses. His eyes slowly adjusted to the room. No windows. The room was a rectangle, one long and one short wall were concrete blocks, and the remaining walls were bars. The bars on the long wall side faced a hall. They started bolted to the ground rose about twelve feet made a sharp 90 degree turn and stretched until they touched the concrete wall on the opposite side. He was in a cage.

He continued to absorb his surroundings. The two NFL punks were standing on either side of him. He saw a goon smoking just outside the cage, one foot rested on top of an ice chest. Another was fiddling with a Polaroid camera. One other captive tied to a chair. No Frank. Joe's eyes locked onto Quinn. She gave a muffled warning. Joe followed her gaze.

The gunman approached him with a wicked grin, a newspaper, and a stapler. One of fullbacks grabbed a handful of Joe's hair keeping his head locked in position as the gunman placed the newspaper against his chest and stapled it. Joe hissed around his gag and the three men around him quickly stepped away from him. The cameraman got into position and snapped Joe's picture. The newspaper was then ripped off, crumbled, and discarded.

After that everything happened methodically. The lighting equipment, the cameraman, and the fullbacks cleared out. The gunman whipped Joe's and Quinn's chairs around so they were facing back to back in the middle of the cage.

The gags came off.

"When my father finds out what you've done to me, he's going to have your head!" Quinn shrieked.

"What I've done?" The gunman laughed. "Stopped his unloyal, pathetic excuse for a daughter from testifying against him? Ruining him? Ruining all of us! I don't think so."

"I didn't have a choice." She didn't meet his gaze now.

The gunman slapped her. A startled sound escaped her.

"Hey!" Joe snapped, but the gunman didn't even acknowledge him.

"You could have ran back home at any time, but you didn't. Your dad sent me to watch you, and when I reported to him that you kicked me in the face, held his own men at gun point," He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. "He laughed. The old man was actually proud of you."

The gunman pulled her face closer to his. She could feel his hot breath against her lips. "So, now, I've had to take a little insurance of my own. We'll see how much your father really loves you."

"Leave her alone," Joe growled.

"And you," The gunman finally turned his gaze onto Joe, like he had forgotten the Hardy boy. He released his grip on Quinn's chin and shoved her chair over.

Joe inwardly flinched at the sound of skull connecting with concrete as the gunman circled around to face him.

"If it wasn't for your brother, you wouldn't even be here right now."

"Where is that jerk anyway?" Joe asked.

"He's dead, Kid." The gunman spoke quietly now. "After he selflessly sacrificed himself to stop you from getting shot, we shot him instead and then we blew him up into little pieces."

Joe felt himself start to go cold, but he remembered that time he, his brother, Nancy, and her friends had faced Tanga in Hawaii. That man had told him his brother had drowned in a boating accident. This was no different.

"No," Joe spoke his thoughts confidently. "My brother escaped, didn't he? You're just trying to cover it up. Where's the proof?"

"I was hoping you'd say that. Oh no, don't look so surprised." The gunman turned to the silent man still smoking outside the cage. "Mac?"

Mac nodded, dropping the butt of the cigarette on the ground and squashing it. He picked up the chest he had been resting a foot on.

As Mac fiddled with the cage door, the gunman gave Joe some of Mac's working history. "Mac is our disposer. He makes sure the people we kill are never found. I asked that he save a little piece just for you."

Mac gave him a toothless grin. Then, he opened the ice chest. On the ice rested a severed and extremely burnt hand and part of the forearm. Wrapped around the wrist was a blue ribbon bracelet Nancy had given Frank.

Joe paled. He normally had a pretty strong stomach, but now he felt like he was going to heave. Joe closed his eyes.

Mac shut the ice chest.

"Frank got away." Joe repeated, but his heart wasn't in it.

"Sure he did," The gunman said easily, he had gotten what he was after.

The gunman and Mac left and when they returned with a sedative, Joe didn't struggle against the needle.

He almost welcomed the numbness.

 **INT. LOS TULES – KANSAS CITY – EVENING**

Nancy Drew fidgeted in her booth at Los Tules. With a quick note to Hannah, Nancy had taken the first flight to Kansas City the next morning and had walked into the restaurant around 10:00. Now it was past seven p.m. and still no sign of Frank.

She had lost track of how many coffee's and tortilla chips she had eaten. She actually had to start paying the manager to let her stay. He had to show up.

Her waiter, Maude, showed up with her dinner. She set the enchiladas on the table then sat down across from her.

"Girl, if I were you, I would left here hours ago," Maude's chocolate eyes were full of pity.

Nancy gave her a half smile. "He'll show up. He has too."

Maude shook her head dark curls bouncing. "He's gotta be quite the boy for you to still be here."

"That I am," A voice behind Nancy said.

Maude gasped as Nancy jerked around.

"Frank Hardy!" She jumped up and he pulled her into a hug.

Frank winced, "Hi, Nan." Then he pulled back and winked at her, "Surprised, I made it in one piece?"

"Could have fooled me," Nancy said seriously. He was dirty and disheveled. Scrapes and burns covered his arms. He looked like a car crash victim, or even car-in-a-tornado survivor.

Maude scooted out of the booth and gave Nancy a little smile. "Looks like he's got quite the tale to tell you."

Nancy looked up at Frank and put all the joking aside. "Yes, you do."

Frank slid into the spot where Maude had been. He grabbed one of Nancy's enchiladas and just before he took a bite of it looked over at her. "You mind?"

She shook her head feeling her face flush suddenly.

He scarfed it down. "Sorry, I haven't eaten at all today. Honestly, I would have been here a lot faster, but I was hiding in an alley and I… I fell asleep. About an hour ago a uniformed homeless man woke me up to inform me that I was in his spot. I raced here as fast as I could. After our phone conversation you must have been worried sick."

"About that conversation," Nancy started, "You said, you said that.." She couldn't even say it out loud.

Frank and Nancy held each other's gaze for a moment. Silent, questioning.

"I shouldn't have said it; it was stupid. There was a gun pointed at me and I.." Frank swallowed as he heard the words opposite of what he wanted to say come out.

Nancy glared at him. "You know what? It was stupid. You shouldn't say things you don't mean. Especially.."

"That's not what I meant," Frank backpedaled. "I meant that-"

This time Nancy cut him off. "Just tell me what's going on Frank. You obviously have a lot on your mind."

Frank let out an exasperated sigh. Sometimes sorry wasn't enough. Sometimes words weren't enough.

"I lost the bracelet you gave me," He looked up at her face. Was she stunned? "I hadn't taken the thing off, but I needed it yesterday. We've, Joe and I, we've been watching this girl. She's a witness to this gun trafficking case. And she's a handful. I'm pretty sure she's a little crazy."

Frank realized he was rambling, but Nancy didn't interrupt. "But she's only the tip of the iceberg. There's these goons that are after her. And they caught us."

He took a drink of her coffee. "One minute we're talking in Mr. O'Dell's room and the next minute, I wake up cuffed in the back of this truck. And there's this guy saying that he didn't need both of us. I start using your lock pick to get out of the cuffs and they're sitting my brother up against the wall."

Frank paused to steal her second enchilada. He took a bite and chewed carefully.

"I guess the guy decided to kill Joe, cause my brother knocked him out with a dumpster last week. Talk about grudges. The gunman's partner is holding a gun to Joe's head and he's starting to wake up. As soon as my cuffs were off I didn't think. I just dropped everything and rammed the guy as hard as I could. That's when I dropped the bracelet."

"Oh, Frank," Nancy breathed.

"Yeah. We flew out the back of the truck onto street and somehow I managed to take the fall for him. We rolled and started to fight. To be fair we both got some good hits in," Frank said as the scene of him getting pummeled replayed in his head.

"But I managed to get away. And that's when I made it to the phone booth and called you."

"What happened?" She was dying to know.

"The guy found me. He shot and missed. That's when I dropped the phone. When he fired again, the gun misfired and exploded. The guy caught on fire!"

Frank remembered running towards the man who was trying to kill him and Frank trying to help him put the fire out. The man had grabbed him. He was only a little bigger than Frank so it wasn't a hard struggle to get free, but instead of letting Frank help, the man had tried to hold Frank so he would burn along with him.

Frank shuddered. "I tried to help, but then the truck was coming back and I thought I heard sirens so I ran as hard as I could until I ended up in that alley and sat down to rest."

"Where you fell asleep," Nancy finished for him.

"Exactly. Now, there's only six days left before the trial. I have to find Joe and Quinn before then."

"We will," Nancy promised. "But first we need to treat your wounds. You don't want that getting infected." She pointed at the burns.

Practical Nancy, Frank mused as he nodded reluctantly. What would she have said if he would have told her he meant every word?

But instead all he said was, "I hope Joe's not too pissed at me for leaving him."


	4. Rainy Day

**It's that time again! I'm still having fun writing this story, and I hope you are still having fun reading it!**

 **May 13 Guest: Thank you!**

 **walter: I'm glad you think I should keep going, I hope you still do after this chapter!**

 **j: I know! I don't know why either... but he just does.. and what does it get him? A hurt and angry Nancy. I'm happy my story can spark some emotion and add a smile to your day! You're very welcome :)**

 **Again you all are my inspiration.**

 **Disclaimer: They're not mine.. but if I changed my username to Carolyn Keene could we pretend? No? What about Franklin? Oh well...**

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 **INT. HOTEL ROOM AT THE RAPHAEL – KANSAS CITY – FOLLOWING DAY**

 _Five days until the trial._

Frank woke up sore and with a headache. Groggily, he rolled over to face the alarm clock that rested on the bedside table. 10:40 AM. He groaned, pushing himself up.

"Nancy, we over..." The bed next to his was empty. "Nancy?"

Frank felt himself grow more alert. He looked around the empty room until he spotted a cornflakes box and a bowl of strawberries on the table.

Feeling a lot like his brother when it came to food, Frank approached the table. Grabbing a strawberry, he read the note Nancy left behind.

 _Milk's in the fridge. Watching CM and MM. F is here. Mttn: L 1100. Shower, eat. Treat your battle wounds. Disguise is in the BR. Wear it. You needed the sleep. –N._

Most of Nancy's shorthand was easy to decipher. F for Fox, CM and MM for the other two co-workers, but it wasn't until mid-shower he realized the L stood for lobby.

Drying off quickly, he threw on the disguise Nancy provided. It included: tight black jeans, a sleeveless black shirt, a clown-red wig, horned-rimmed glasses, and a cap with a skull on it.

"Oh yeah," Frank told his reflection with little energy. "I'm tough."

 **INT. LOBBY AT THE RAPHAEL – KANSAS CITY – 11:20AM**

Nancy resisted the urge to grab a newspaper to hide behind as the meeting between Fox, Colby, Max, and Fenton Hardy came to an abrupt end.

Fenton had paled at the information the three men had delivered to him. His boys and the daughter of a gun smuggler were missing. Colby had received a photo of Joe under his hotel room door. The look of shock and incertitude on his youngest face pulled at his heart. Under the picture was simply written: _No trial, back off._ Body parts that were similar to his eldest were showing up and were on the way to the lab to be tested. There was no picture of Frank; the absence made it all too real.

"Excuse me," Fenton said harshly, rising from the table as he thought about the phone call he would have to make to his wife.

Fenton briskly walked away from the table, oblivious to Nancy as he passed her, and started down the hall. Fox quickly followed him.

Frank exited the elevator just as Fox called his father's name.

Frank froze as his father turned away from him.

Fenton turned around barely giving the redheaded punk a glance. "I want that security camera footage checked immediately. We need to know who slid that photo under the door."

Frank kept his eyes on his toes as he walked past his dad and Fox.

"We're going to get Joe back. I promise you."

"But not Frank."

The broken sound in his father's voice almost had Frank turning around, ripping off the ridiculous wig, and saying, 'I'm right here, Dad. I'm okay.' But he couldn't. Not now. Not with Joe still in the hands of a man who had marked him for murder. Not with a mole in their midst's.

Nancy watched the struggle of emotion on Frank's face force itself into a sad smile as he sat down across from her.

"We can tell him when he's alone," Nancy told him.

Frank just nodded.

And then they listened to Colby and Max's whispered conversation.

 **INT. WAREHOUSE – KANSAS CITY – 1:00PM**

Joe woke up sore and with a headache. Groggily, he rolled over and found his face barely inches away from Quinn Holmes'.

"You're breathing my air," She graveled.

He groaned, pushing himself up. Joe felt himself grow more alert. He remembered that Frank was dead, and didn't care when his stomach growled.

One of the NFL punks came in to relieve the current guard. He tossed in a single can of strawberry soda. Quinn grabbed it, popped it open, and drank. She downed about half, then handed it to Joe. He took a sip and handed it back.

"Drink it all," Quinn tried to give it back. "We need to keep our strength up."

"Yeah, cause soda is gonna give us a ton of strength."

She shrugged and downed the rest of the sugar and carbonation. Using her palms to crush the can she said, "I'm getting out of here."

"Sure," Joe agreed noncommittally.

Quinn threw the crushed can and hit the NFL punk square in the back of the head.

"How about some real strawberries!" She challenged.

Somehow this landed Joe with a broken nose.

 **EXT. ALLEYWAY AND SURROUNDING STREETS – KANSAS CITY – 3:00PM**

It was raining lightly, sporadically.

Nancy entered the alley and looked around warily. Had she been made? Her questions were answered swiftly when Max Miller grabbed her from behind, twisting her arm behind her back, and pressing her roughly against the wall.

"Who are you and why are you following me?" He asked her. The calmness in his voice startled her.

"Nancy Drew," She told him quickly. His grip was firm and uncomfortable for her arm. "You're hurting me, let go."

Max didn't relent. "Why are you following me, Nancy Drew?"

Nancy was following Max, because in the lobby, Colby had accused Max's distaste for Quinn and the overall assignment had made it possible for her and the Hardy's to get taken in the first place.

Max had tried to turn it around saying at least he was always at his post when he supposed to be.

They kept throwing the blame around until Fox came and told them the footage must have been tampered with, because only Colby was seen entering his room late that evening.

So when the men went their separate ways, Nancy took Max and Frank took Colby.

But Nancy wasn't about to say all that. So, instead, she said sweetly, "To see if you have something to hide. Do you have something to hide, Max Miller?"

"What?" Max's confusion caused momentary slack in his hold, and it was all Nancy needed. She spun her arm free, and followed it with a well-practiced kick to the chest.

Max stumbled back.

"I said, what are you hiding," Nancy approached him holding her fighter pose. "What do you gain for not seeing Quinn Holmes as a witness in trial?"

Max looked at her, his face unreadable. Then he looked away towards the street.

Colby walked past the opening in a determined stride. He didn't notice them.

Max frowned. "I have to go." Then he took off after Colby.

"Wait!" Nancy yelled and raced after him.

When she rounded the corner she slammed right into Frank. The two fell back on their rears.

"I'm so sorry," Frank started to apologize until he realized who he had run into. He started to laugh.

Nancy glared at him rubbing her head. "What's so funny?"

"I was just thinking it's funny how opposites attract, and yet I have never felt such a magnetic pull, as just now, with someone who's so similar-minded to me."

"That hit must have rattled your brains."

He gave her a look, then sighed, "Whatever, I'm glad I ran into you."

At her look he added, "No pun intended. I was across the street and saw Max bust down the street after Colby and decided to come over here and double back to see if I could find you."

Frank offered Nancy a hand. She took it.

They started jogging after Max and Colby. It wasn't long before they spotted them.

"Colby met someone at a newspaper stand. He bought a paper, and inside it I saw an envelope. He read it, put it in his bag, and then he's been walking this way like he was on a mission. He's definitely involved in something," Frank reported.

"Max has been moving to different locations. He just stands at a place for ten or fifteen minutes, then moves on. It like he's waiting for someone. Or something to happen. Do you think maybe?"

"That they're working together?" Frank finished her thought. "I don't know. I don't think we should rule it out."

Colby walked into a deserted, marked up construction area that lined the perimeter of an opened manhole. He pulled a hardhat out of his bag, then started down the manhole. Nancy and Frank waited for Max to follow first, but instead Max hailed a taxi.

The two shrugged and decided to follow Colby down into the water drainage tunnels under the city.

 **INT. WAREHOUSE – KANSAS CITY – 4:00PM**

The sound of the hard rain hitting the warehouse was almost soothing to Quinn. She loved storms. Loved the power they wielded. She felt so powerless right now. She looked over at Joe who had gone out of his way to distance himself from her. At the opposite side of the cage he sat butt against the wall, arms locked around his shins, head buried in his knees.

Her appointed protector was in pain. He was mourning. He was lost. She wanted to understand his loss, his suffering, but she didn't. She was alive. He was alive. They had to get out of here and put an end to all of this before her dad and his blind and apparently rebellious followers could hurt any more families, smuggle in any more guns. She was going to snap some sense into Joe Hardy.

She walked over and sat across from him. "Hey."

When he ignored her, she nudged him. "Look at me."

He didn't budge.

"Stop being a baby and get over it. You're alive. You still have a battle to fight. You're supposed to be protecting me, remember?"

Maybe a scoff escaped him.

"What kind of brother are you? Are you really going to let his death be in vain?"

Joe's hands clenched and Quinn smiled. If she was good at anything, she knew how to push people to their limits.

"Seriously? What about your family? Are they going to lose two sons instead of one because of you?"

"Shut up," Joe growled, but he didn't move.

"No!" Quinn outright denied. "Frank died protecting you and now you're just going to let yourself rot in here?! If I was your brother I-"

Joe leapt at her, knocking Quinn on her back. He was on top of her, holding her wrists against the ground parallel to her head. His face a foot or two above hers.

"Don't you dare compare yourself to _my brother_. Frank is a hero. Frank is **–** was everything," He paused when a tear betrayed him and landed on her cheek. "My big brother was more to me than anything you could possibly understand, _Quinn_." The way he said her name was full of bitterness. "And don't think for a moment that I have a given up, because I will revenge my brother, and you'll be lucky if I don't start with you."

Joe pushed himself off of her and went back to the wall resuming his previous position.

Quinn stayed where she laid and gazed up at the ceiling. She knew she should be scared of his threat, but instead she was moved by his passion. When she looked over at him, she saw his shoulders were shaking as he fought to contain his quiet sobs.

Silently, Quinn came and sat beside him. She placed a hand on his back and started to rub softly. Joe froze at first, but eventually relaxed. She kept rubbing, even after he had leaned against her, and had fallen asleep.

 **INT. TUNNELS – UNDER KANSAS CITY – AROUND 5:00PM**

At first, Frank was worried that their sloshing feet would give them away, no matter how lightly they treaded, but with the rain picking up and water pouring in from any direction, they were covered. He and Nancy peeked around the corner and saw Colby making his way up a ladder and out a manhole. They waited for the manhole cover to slide back into place before they headed up the ladder themselves.

Nancy was up the ladder first and pushed the cover up a few inches and peeked around. She spotted Colby talking to some man under an umbrella, leaning against a beat up car.

"What do you see?" Frank asked. He was on the lower rungs.

"I have a plate: Missouri, HH5 AS6."

Frank repeated the plate to himself.

"Come up here and look at the guy he's talking too. See if you recognize him."

Frank crawled up awkwardly behind her. His body pressed against hers as he gazed out into the rainy atmosphere.

When he recognized the man leaning against the car, he gasped and covered Nancy's hand that was still on the rung ladder with his.

"That's the gunman," Frank breathed.

They watched as the gunman and Colby got into the car and drove off.

"Should we try to follow?" Nancy asked.

"No, let's get back and run the plates. Let's find out who the gunman really is."

Nancy suddenly felt the weight of the manhole cover lighten as it was being pulled up.

"Frank," Nancy warned and the two started down the ladder.

At the opening, Max Miller hovered over them, armed with a gun.

"Run!" Nancy yelled and the two took off back the way they had come. They heard Max curse and start down the ladder after them.

They were making good lead way against the water's current and away from Max, when Nancy tripped over something in the water. The water pushed her towards a circle drain on the side of the wall. Nancy screamed as the current sucked her in.

"Nancy!" Frank yelled, and without clear thinking, jumped into the black hole after her.

It was like riding a waterslide and when he hit the pool, his scrapes had been reopened with new ones added. He lost the glasses, wig, and cap in the water. He bobbed to the surface and felt the ceiling an arm length above him.

"Nancy," He croaked.

"Over here!" She yelled in the darkness.

Frank turned around at the sound of her voice and saw a single spotlight illuminating her.

Frank swam over to her. She was holding onto a circle split by thin bars blocking their way to freedom into another tunnel above.

Frank grabbed onto the bars. "One, two, three."

The two tugged and pulled with all their might, but the circle didn't budge.

They tried two more times as the water rose making the distance only half an arm's length.

"We're going to get out of here," Frank promised and dove under the water searching for a way out.

When he came up empty and for air, he heard Nancy yelling out to the world for help.

He went back under and all he found was solid walls. When he came back up, Nancy stopped him.

"Frank. The room's filling up too fast, I think this is the only way out!"

Frank swam back to her. He wrapped one arm around her waist and threaded his wrist in-between the bars and grabbed one solidly from above. Nancy let one arm fall from the circle and wrap around Frank.

"Help!" They yelled.

"Well one thing's for sure," Frank mused.

"What's that?"

"We sure know how to get ourselves into trouble."

Nancy laughed in spite of herself, and rested her forehead against Frank's.

His heart skipped a beat and when he realized he could and wanted to kiss her, the water rose over their heads.


	5. Tempers

**Hey everyone. I know I disappeared from the face of the Earth for awhile. I promise I was doing nothing short of saving it. Thank you for your patience.**

 **Cameronmm: Thanks!**

 **walter: I totally took to much time. I am sorry!**

 **Torchwood Cardiff: Thank you!**

 **thesilentauthor24:I believe Nancy's a stronger swimmer than Frank. Thank you:)**

 **CorkyBookworm1: I love your reviews lol 1. INT means Interior scene. So like Interior shooting, EXT. is Exterior. And I/E. means Interior and Exterior so you would have to be prepared to shoot for both Interior and Exterior settings. Thank you! I hope it stays fresh. 2. hahaha Yeah, Quinn's a keeper. I'm glad you like her! Quinn's development is so much fun! 3. It's definitely about to get messier. I did try to slow down things a bit with chapter 5 You'll have to let me know what you think. 4. The scene is granted. Not the kissing though... at least not yet... the struggle is real.**

 **Sapphire5: Thank you! Maybe one day I'll film this. I think that would be cool. Yes, I will get that added to the beginning tonight or tomorrow. I'll fix that vein/vain thing too, whoops . I don't have a beta reader, I'm guessing that's basically an editor?**

 **Feb27 Guest: I'm sorry! Here it is!**

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 **INT. TUNNELS – UNDER KANSAS CITY – A QUARTER TO FOUR**

All Nancy could do was hold on. She held her breath, she held onto Frank, and she held onto their lifeline above.

Frank's hold was strong until it wasn't. Nancy gripped him harder and kicked up trying to find the surface in between the bars with her face. Her nose touched air and she titled her head back for her lips, but when she opened her mouth for air, water splashed in.

Nancy sputtered and coughed letting go of Frank and her lifeline simultaneously. She was suddenly disoriented and panicked. She was choking and she had nowhere to turn.

But she wasn't going to die like this. Not Nancy Drew. Not under the city, stuck in a hole, with Frank Hardy. Frank! She reached out in the water for him when she was yanked up under the arm like a fish and a hook.

Her savior pulled Nancy out and right into his lap. "Are you okay?"

The barred obstacle lay defeated to the side of the circle it used to cover. A body lay lifeless next to it.

Nancy coughed and sputtered, "Frank."

"Don't worry, he's just unconscious."

Nancy breathed a deep sigh of relief, adrenaline rush leaving and exhaustion taking over. Shock was wearing off leaving her wet and cold.

"You have a lot of 'splaining to do, Nancy Drew."

Nancy looked up into eyes warm with concern and felt a little heat come back into her. At close range, Max Miller was kind of cute.

 **INT. HOTEL ROOM AT THE RALPHAEL – KANSAS CITY – 10:00PM**

"Stop scowling at me like that, I'm sure Max will be back any minute now."

"Or he ran off to tell the gunman that we got his plates," Frank argued.

"You could be a little a more grateful, you know. He did save your life," Nancy protested.

"You seem grateful enough for the both of us," Frank grunted.

Nancy scoffed. "Well maybe if you showed any signs of it, I wouldn't have to be."

"Earlier today you thought he was a mole. You thought he was part of the reason why my brother and Quinn are being held hostage somewhere."

"Earlier today I didn't know he had everything to lose if Quinn doesn't testify."

"Yeah, right. He hates Quinn. She was afraid of him."

"From what I hear she isn't scared of anything. And he doesn't hate her, he just doesn't like her. She's a handful."

"You get this from him?"

"We talked while you were still out."

"Is that all you did?"

"Why are you getting so heated up about this?"

"What?" Frank rounded on her. "I'm not heated. How do you know he's just not trying to get you on his side? Keep you distracted from-"

"You're the only one whose.." Nancy cut herself off when she heard voices outside the door.

"Thanks for being so cooperative about this," Max was saying. "They're just inside."

Nancy looked at Frank wide-eyed.

"I told you," He hissed, grabbing her hand and pulling her behind him as the door was unlocked from the outside.

Should have bolted it shut, Frank thought and then he saw who was accompanying Max Miller, and took it all back.

"Frank," Fenton Hardy stared at his son.

Frank froze, seeing straight through his father's attempt to bury all the stress, fear, pain that had swallowed and consumed him.

"Dad," Frank whispered as his father embraced him.

 **INT. SAME HOTEL ROOM – KANSAS CITY – JUST A LITTLE LATER**

Fenton Hardy stared hard at his son. Frank was pacing, he kept glancing at the door impatiently. Nancy had left with Max Miller to give them some alone time. Fenton thought he knew why Frank was upset.

"Don't worry Son, we'll get Joe back soon," He tried to reassure him.

It was Frank's turn to freeze. Something flashed across his face. Confusion? Guilt? Frank glanced at the door once more and shook his head. He sat on the edge of the bed nearest to the chair Fenton rested in.

"I'm sorry."

"This is not your fault."

"I know that," Frank said quickly, then he hesitated. "I just.. I'm not focused."

"Maybe you should get some more rest. You've been through a lot."

Frank was annoyed again. "I'm okay, Dad. It's not that."

Fenton realized there was an underlying cry that was begging to be pried out, but before he could grab his crowbar, the hotel door opened with a new energy.

"We got the result of the plates!" Nancy exclaimed. "And you'll never guess who they belong too."

"Who?" Fenton forgot the crowbar all together.

 **INT. WAREHOUSE - KANSAS CITY - 12:00AM**

 _Four days left until trial._

"Earl Bache." Quinn spokes as if answering a question.

Joe glanced over at her mid-eye rub. "Huh?"

"You kept muttering 'Gunman' in your sleep. That's his name."

Joe reflected on his nightmare. He could see Frank. He was close enough he could see the despair on his face, but no matter how hard he ran, he didn't get any closer. The gunman appears and Joe can't move at all. He's frozen in fear. The gunman smiles as he rips Frank's limbs apart one by one. And then there was..

"Were you singing Shawn Cassidy songs?"

"Really? That's what you have to say?"

"Well were you?"

"You snore when you sleep."

"You cry in yours."

"No I don't!" Quinn sounded alarmed.

"I don't snore," Joe smiled finally winning.

He sombered quickly though. If she couldn't answer simple yes or no questions without trying to throw the other person off how in the world was she going to testify?

He glanced over at their guard who appeared to be sleeping. He whispered, "Quinn?"

She looked at him for a beat before she replied grudgedly. "Joe."

"Have you thought about what you're going to say in court?"

"I think our first focus should be getting out of here." Quinn started to rise.

Joe grabbed her arm. "No, seriously. I need to know."

Quinn frowned at his hand on her arm. "Let go of me."

She didn't wait for him to release her. She ripped her arm away as the door flung open with unnecessary force.

The guard jerked awake and jumped to his feet as Earl Bache, the gunman, shoved his way through pressing the wire cutters he carried against the guard's chest as he past him.

Bache was seething. Joe could almost see the steam rising from him as he fumbled with the cage's lock. Joe took a protective step in front of Quinn as Bache struggled. He tried to ignore the sickening pit growing in his stomach. Joe felt one of Quinn's hands rest against his back.

The guard moved to help Bache, "Boss, let me give you a hand."

Bache's gun was against the guard's head in an instant. Before the guard had a chance to react, the gunman pulled the trigger.

Joe closed his eyes, he heard a gargled sound escape Quinn's throat.

When he heard the screech of the cage door opening, his eyes focused on Bache, ignoring the lifeless body outside the cage.

It was if all the rage had drained from Bache. The tension was now an icy calm. The gun was back in it's holster. His hand played with the wire cutters idly.

Bache addressed Quinn. "You know what your father said to me?" He spoke as if he was asking her what she wanted for dinner, but his face could have been carved from stone.

Quinn's nails dug into Joe's back, and the gunman didn't wait for her to decide to answer. He came towards them. "He said he wasn't going to give me the money to give you back scratch free. Can you guess why?"

Joe felt Quinn's hand drop. He was surprised of how aware he was that her touch was gone.

"I'm sure it had nothing to do with whether he loves me or not," She told him haughtily.

Joe was torn between telling her to shut up and cheering her on.

Bache smiled, but it looked strange on his stone face. "I think I'm going to enjoy this."


	6. Choices We Make

**This has to be considered a pretty fast turn around, yea?**

 **CorkyBookworm1: Funny you should say that about Frank... But yes! I'm glad someone enjoyed the Shawn Cassidy slip-in as much as I did sticking it in there hahaha**

 **KDesai: Thank you! I did better this time!**

 **Cameronmm: Thanks!**

* * *

 **INT. WAREHOUSE - KANSAS CITY - BASICALLY 1:00AM**

Quinn took a step back as Joe charged at the gunman. She watched the two crash to the ground.

"Run!" Joe shouted at her as he struggled to stay in control. Quinn paused momentarily, then ran to the cage's door. She swung it open and hesitated when she saw the dead guard on the floor. She turned, looking back at Joe. The two were still on the ground. They were fighting over the gun now. Her eyes went back to the dead guard and the bullet hole in his head.

Quinn kicked Bache's back as hard as she could. The gunman turned releasing one hand from the gun to sweep behind Quinn's knees, knocking her off her feet. In the same moment, Joe pulled the gun free. Joe kicked out, pushing distance between him and Bache. Bache rolled pulling Quinn in front of him. Quinn thrashed, but he secured one wrist and twisted it harshly behind her back. She gasped. Quinn was jerked to her feet. She kicked back, but it only resulted in a harsher arm pull. Quinn bent forward, head near her knees from the strain on her arm and wrist.

"Let her go, Bache." Joe spoke steadily, but his hands were shaking.

Quinn felt Bache's grip on her tighten.

"Can't do that," Bache said gruffly, and swiftly he wrapped his other hand around her throat.

Quinn's eyes bulged at the pressure. Joe's eyes focused on her. She looked away from him, gagging.

"I said let her go!" There was no hiding the strain in Joe's voice now.

 **I/E. CAR - KANSAS CITY - 1:30AM**

Nancy rode with Max Miller, but her thoughts drifted to Frank who was riding with his dad and Fox. With the result of the plates, Max had decided to bring his boss up to speed, and shared the concerns about Colby Mahner being a mole.

Fox had sent a team to retrieve Colby for questioning, but he was no where to be found. The rest of the teams were divided and sent out to survey Earl Bache's land for anything out of the ordinary. He owned several warehouses in Kansas City and inside the surrounding towns. Bache had other properties, but Nancy thought a warehouse would be where they would find Joe and the witness.

They were winding down a muddy road and Max pointed out fresh tire tracks. "See those? Someone's been driving out here recently."

"Maybe we should park the car and walk the rest of the way. If Bache is here, I don't want him to hear us coming."

"I like the way you think, Drew," Max Miller smiled at her.

She looked away, trying to stop her cheeks from burning.

Max pulled the car off of the gravel into the grass behind a tree line. Nancy thought she heard him muttering something along the lines about wondering if they would be able to get out or not.

It wasn't long after they were out of the car and making the way to the Warehouse that they heard a gun shot.

Nancy quickened her pace, but stopped when Max hissed her name.

"We need to wait for backup," He told her.

She looked at him exasperated. "We don't even know if this is the right place!"

But something in her gut said it was.

She realized he had been speaking and she wasn't listening.

She talked over him, meeting his gaze defiantly. "I'm going to check it out. We may not have enough time to wait."

She turned, not caring if he went back to the car to radio it in or followed.

 **INT. WAREHOUSE - KANSAS CITY - 2:00AM**

The gun dropped from Joe's hand. Had he fired it? Or had it just gone off? It happened so fast. He had to have fired it. What was he thinking? Was he thinking? He felt like he was being swallowed by a blackhole. He almost thought it was a good thing.

He faintly heard his name being said. His ears focused.

"Joe!" Quinn was yelling at him. Eyes focused. She was right in front of him. She was practically shaking him.

Quinn dragged him from the cage. He slipped in the dead guard's blood almost bringing Quinn down on top of him.

He was back on his feet. They were out the door. Quinn was talking, but he didn't hear any of it. They were rushing through a dark corridor when the two fullback's appeared at the other end. They were racing towards them, pulling out their firearms.

Quinn released his hand. "Help me!" She was twisting a knob near the bottom of a door. Joe realized the hall was lined with garage doors. Mechanically, he helped her push the door up enough where she could roll underneath it.

Bullets lined the the garage door and cut off abruptly. He thought he heard one of the fullbacks chastise the other. "You could hit the girl you idiot!"

Joe was under the door. He now stood on a loading dock platform. The air had never felt so fresh. He saw his arms were covered in goosebumps. He thought maybe he should be cold, then he shivered.

"Joe!"

He followed the sound of her voice. Quinn was struggling to break free from a man. In a back corner of his brain he recognized the man as one of the guards who took shifts watching them.

The fullbacks were lifting the garage door higher. Joe jumped off the platform, landing poorly, but he felt nothing save the cold.

Quinn pulled free as Joe decked the guard. The guard dropped.

A hand gripped his shoulder from behind. Joe gripped the wrist and leaned forward twisting his body, throwing the momentum. Joe's attacker landed on his back in front of him. Quinn took down a third man.

Joe turned ready to face the onslaught of the fullbacks when a car sped up to them. The windows were tinted, but Joe could tell the backseat door was thrown open by the driver.

"Get in!" A familiar voice shouted at him.

Quinn pushed Joe into the car and closed the door behind her. She was still untangling herself from him as the driver sped away.

Joe could hear sirens coming in from the opposite direction. He glanced up at the rearview mirror seeing the driver for the first time.

The look in Colby Mahner's eyes was the last straw. Joe threw up in the back seat.

 **EXT. WAREHOUSE - KANSAS CITY - 3:00AM**

Frank watched the ambulance disappear into the darkness down the road. Fox had set up a ton of lighting, so despite the darkness, Frank could make out what was going on around him pretty easily. His gaze moved passed several men in handcuffs being shuffled into the backs of cop cars and onto Nancy who was sitting on a loading dock, looking at her hands. There was no blood on them now, but when he had ran into the cage room she had been trying to stop Earl Bache from bleeding out. He hoped it wouldn't be on her conscience if the man didn't make it.

Frank made his way to Nancy. He sat down next to her. She barely acknowledged him and he was just as silent. His feet dangled and rested against the side of the loading dock. Part of him wished Bache would die. He instantly pushed the thought aside though. Bache had to live, at least so they could get some answers. He pushed that thought aside as well, feeling sick with himself.

It was obvious someone was being held captive here. And they had gotten away by the looks of it. It had to be Joe right? Frank shook his head. Could Joe really have shot the gunman?

Abruptly, Frank wrapped an arm around Nancy. She jumped at the sudden closeness, hovered for a few moments before settling against him.

Frank didn't think it was likely. Quinn on the other hand… It was a little frightening thinking of that pistol armed and dangerous. He was worried about his brother. It was like Joe had slipped through his fingers. Where was he now?

"We'll find them," Nancy whispered.

Frank stared at her. Sometimes he wondered if she could read his mind.

Nancy didn't seem to notice his goggling. "We're missing something. Something obvious."

Frank figured she was probably right. She was everything he ever could have wanted. He let his mind wander.

She pulled away from him suddenly, concern filling her eyes. "Frank, your heart's practically beating out of your chest. Are you okay?"

His face reddened and he hoped it was dark enough that she couldn't see. He acted like he didn't hear what she had just said.

"Something obvious?" He reverted back too. "Maybe we're just looking from the wrong angle."

She didn't seem to like that answer. He could tell by the way she brushed aside her hair. She started to rise. "I guess we'll just have to shake things up then."

Frank didn't want her to go. He was blunt, saying the first thing that came to his mind and the last thing he wanted to say. "How's Ned?"

He couldn't read her reaction. It changed to fast. "He's probably fine."

"So this thing with Miller? It's.." Frank couldn't even finish. If she was cold before, now she was ice.

"Is none of your business," She finished for him. She stood the rest of the way.

Frank rose after her. "Nancy," exasperation breathed out of him.

She didn't even look at him. She was walking away. He grabbed her arm. She turned jerking it free. Her face stunned him. Her eyes were welled up. She was on the brink of tears. Had he caused that? Frank never wanted to hurt Nancy.

His confusion must have been a plain canvas on his face, because her pretty eyes narrowed defiantly, refusing to admit anything.

He wrapped his arms around her then, gently pulling her close to him. He took her hand and placed it against his heart, and then, pushing aside all thoughts, he kissed her.

It was one of the best moments of his life. Then there was a cough and a flashlight beam directly on them. Nancy jerked away from him.

Again.

Max Miller was there. Max was masking his emotions quick enough, but Frank didn't care. He glared at the man.

"Fox wants us to join him. We have some debriefing to do." Max spoke emotionlessly and he did not look at Nancy.

Frank looked at Nancy though, and he didn't like what he saw.


	7. Perspectives

**So I decided with this chapter to only write third person perspectives from O.C.'s. It was different, but I still had fun getting to develop a couple of my characters a bit more and then inventing a random character out of the idea of what an average person would think if they overheard the Nancy Drew characters talking. I really like this kind of perspectives, because even if you know more than what the character does you still only see the scene from the character's eyes and it forces you to close those gaps yourself.**

 **KDesai: Thank you!**

 **Corky: hahahaha I'm glad you liked it. I had a lot of fun with that Nancy & Frank scene. No worries, there will be more fun with them in the future. I hope! **

**April 16th Guest: LOL! Well here it is. Hope you enjoy!**

 **A big thank you to reviews and my new story followers/favorites Ks972, blushing pixie, bt6c2c, Librana, Itarille Celebrindal, winkster** **and Frogi!**

 **Sorry if I missed anyone! I really do appreciate everyone's support! Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **INT. MOTEL ROOM- CLINTON MO- 10:00AM**

Quinn woke up groggily. The smell of smoke registered in her nose. The room stunk of it. The bed was heaven though. At least compared to the hard ground they had been sleeping on the last couple of days. Only her head turned to look at Joe beside her. His back was to her, but by the way he breathed she assumed he was still asleep. Still careful, she looked over to the other bed and realized Colby Mahner was not in bed. She looked towards the room's little bathroom, but the door was open and the lights off.

Quinn smiled. Well, since she was free again, she might as well get out of here and into some fresh air. She started to rise gingerly as to not wake the sleeping bear when she felt a tight tug on her wrist. Quinn glared at the source. One wrist was handcuffed that to the metal bars of the headrest. This put Colby Mahner on the same level as Earl Bache in her eyes. Why wouldn't anyone just let her go as she pleased?!

Quinn nudged Joe. Joe stirred, but didn't acknowledge her past that.

"Hey!" Was he ignoring her? After she had helped him strip out of his blood and puke covered clothes and helped him into the shower? After she had to sit in the car with his puke for hours?!

"Wake up!" She kicked him this time.

Still nothing. She started poking his back. "Helllooooo."

"Stop," He said groggily. He shoved a hand towards her without looking, a half hearted attempt to try to deflect her poking.

If she hadn't been so annoyed at her predicament she may have laughed. "Oh good. You're awake. Are you handcuffed?"

"Quinn," He shuffled further away from her. "Shut up."

She jerked his pillow out from under his head. That got his attention. He spun towards her in sleepy bear rage, and she smacked his face with the pillow before he had a chance to attack.

A hurt sound escaped him and she remembered that his nose was broken. Whoops. But since he had that much freedom to move around.

"Can you find something to pick this?" She gestured to her predicament.

Joe grabbed his pillow back. "Why? So you can run off again?"

Her jaw dropped open, but no words came out.

Joe made a sound that conveyed "that's what I thought" and started settling back into bed.

Quinn shoved him with her both her feet and he landed on the floor in an oomph.

 **INT. HQ- KANSAS CITY- 1:00PM**

Max Miller barely paid attention as Fox addressed all the department teams he had called in for the failed search and rescue attempt for Quinn Holmes and Joe Hardy, as well as the city's local PD who had failed to find Colby or any trace to where he may be. Fox had chewed Max out for that. Well, for not bringing his suspicions about Colby to Fox's attention earlier anyway.

Max saw Nancy's pen drop to the floor. Nancy and Frank reached down at the same time to retrieve it. Their hands touched, they both jumped away from each other, reddened, stuttered apologies, reached for the pen again, touched again, more stuttering. This had been happening all day.

At first Max had been disgusted, well maybe jealous, but now he watched in a kind of awe. He wasn't sure he had ever seen two people stumble over each other as embarrassingly as these two did. It was almost entertaining.

Frank had the pen in his hand now, and it looked like he was scared of the thing he held.

And it wasn't even their first kiss either. At least that what's Nancy had told him. Or at least what he gathered from her apologies on the way home. If you could count them as apologies. She didn't say sorry exactly. More of a things are different than before and she didn't know how she felt about it.

Well Max knew how he felt about it. He snagged the pen from Frank and slapped it down on Nancy's desk. "There's more important things going on right now," He hissed at both of them.

Not quietly enough though, because Fox called him out for it. Max bet Fox was still angry with him from before.

"Miller!" Fox snapped. "Pay attention or get out. I don't have time for you to decide when and when not you're going to play at being an agent."

That stung. Max felt like flipping his desk over and stalking out. He glowered, but before he could figure out a more mature way to respond, he didn't have to. Nancy came to his rescue.

"Fox, we had a realization," She announced. Well maybe. Holding information back was what had gotten him into trouble in the first place. He just liked to be 100 percent sure. That was all.

Frank frowned at her. Fox looked impatient.

"We think we know," Nancy looked at Frank, who smiled encouraging at her, and she blushed looking down at her feet.

Max rolled his eyes. "We think Mahner has Quinn," He finished for her. Then added, "And Joe."

Nancy and Max had came up with that last night, and by the lack of surprise on Frank's face she had told him.

"That would be convenient," Fox allowed. "But that doesn't give us much to go off of. We know he isn't traveling in his car. And his car was not at the warehouse."

"But his cousin's was," Max countered, trying not to flinch at Fox's look.

"I wrote down each of the cars information at the warehouse, and when I described them to Max, he recognized it," Nancy was proud of this.

Max had been following Colby so much he was aware of the family Colby kept close and the vehicles they drove.

"Since his cousin's car was at the warehouse, it meant he had to take someone else's car," Frank jumped in like he knew the info all along.

Max chose to ignore that. Kind of. "So I took a list of all the men and women we brought in and I ran them through the DMV to see who was registered with what car and compared that to Nancy's list and found out three vehicles were not there."

"A chevy truck, and two ford cars," Nancy announced.

"Well, the tracks in the mud, where we think Joe and Quinn jumped into the car to escape, definitely didn't belong to truck," Frank put in.

"So maybe, Sir," Max said, hoping he wasn't putting himself in more hot water. "We focus on those two cars."

 **INT. SHRIMP DADDY'S - SUNRISE BEACH MO - 4:00PM**

Colby finally gave in to Quinn's persistence of stopping at a good restaurant to eat in. She had been whining that she hadn't had anything filling since the day she was kidnapped. That wasn't why he gave in though. He could use a good meal himself before he did what he had to do. Plus, he had to get Quinn on his side and if she kept whining he was going to end up gagging her and throwing her in the trunk! That wouldn't help him at all.

He watched Joe stare at his hamburger without touching it. "Are you waiting 'til it gets cold? You gotta eat something, Man."

"Yeah, Joe, don't waste it," Quinn chided, she was already halfway through her steak and shrimp meal.

Joe looked up and met Colby's eyes for a moment. Colby kept his face smooth, but he saw a knowingness in Joe's eyes, a knowingness that he knew he was going to have to deal with.

Joe nodded like he was confirming Colby's thoughts, but all he did was pick up the burger and take a bite out of it. A look of satisfaction crossed over Joe's face and the kid started to eat.

Man, what was he going to do about Joe? He liked the guy, but he was only going to get in the way in the end. He could ruin everything. They weren't playing on the same team.

Leaving the motel, Joe had realized they were heading further and further away from Kansas City. He had asked where they were going and Colby had said the first thing that had come to his mind. Colby was taking them into witness protection and even he didn't know where they would end up when they got to the drop off point.

Joe had wanted to call his dad. Colby had countered that too with a "You know why you can't do that."

Colby found himself scanning the restaurant. His eyes landed on two girls who were looking at them. One had short curly hair and looked ready to run a marathon and the other was blonde and looked ready to walk down the red carpet. The blonde was pointing at them.

Joe must have been curious of what Colby was looking so intently at, because he turned and looked behind him.

"Joe Hardy!" The blonde squealed when she saw Joe's face and Joe jerked back around like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Well, at least he had the decently to look guilty, Colby found himself mentally defending Joe even though Joe's presence was already making a mess of things.

"Joe!" The girl said again she was approaching the table now. Joe looked torn in what to do.

"I can't believe we ran into you-"

"Bess!" The curly-haired girl hissed, grabbing her arm.

The one called Bess looked back at her friend. The friend gave her a pointed look and pressed her lips together.

Bess's eyes widened and her mouth faltered. She looked back at Colby and Quinn.

"Oh!" She suddenly reddened. "Are you on a-"

She looked at Joe who was staring at his lap now and her tone softened. "Are you okay?"

Joe looked up at her then and his face was stone. "I'm sorry miss, I don't kn-"

"Hi! How do you know Joe?" Quinn was all smiles, she leaned over Joe to grasp Bess's hand with her own.

"We used to go to the same summer camp," Joe answered before Bess could say anything. By Bess and her friends reaction Colby knew it was a lie.

"Yeah, camp." The friend said. "So much fun."

Quinn may have known it was a lie too, but she didn't lead on. "I want to hear all about it! It's a battle getting Joe to talk about anything sometimes! Scoot over Francis!"

Colby glared at Quinn for an instant then he was all smiles too. At least she hadn't used his real name. "There's plenty of room," He scooted over and patted the booth. Bess and her friend scooted in.

Joe frowned at Colby like this was his fault.

"So what are you guys doing down here at the lake?" Bess wanted to know.

Joe, Colby, and Quinn all opened up their mouths to answer, but Quinn got words out first and the two men snapped their jaws shut cutting off whatever they were about to say.

"Well Joe wanted to see where I grew up at when I was a kid, so my big brother here is letting us stay with him."

"It's been a blast. I haven't gotten to see my sister in forever. Joe's not that bad either," Colby winked at Joe. Joe reddened.

"Oh," Bess said quietly; she was trying to piece something together and she didn't seem to like how the puzzle was forming.

"What happened to your face?" The friend asked. "Your nose looks broken."

"I think it is," Joe said. "I really need to get it looked at."

"Yeah, you should."

There was a long silence. Colby paid the waiter in cash. He let her keep the change as a tip.

"Well, it was nice to meet you Bess and," Colby paused looking at the friend.

"George," She said with a nice smile.

"George," he repeated just as pleasantly.

The two shook hands.

Quinn leaned over giving each of the girls a hug saying she was happy to meet friends of Joe's.

Colby figured she really did mean it, but part of him couldn't help but wonder if Quinn was using the hugs as a cover for pickpocketing or something.

Joe gave Bess and George hugs like it was the last time he was going to see them. He looked a little better, but it was only for a moment.

Bess opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn't find the words.

"What is it?" Joe reluctantly asked her. Quinn intertwined her fingers with Joe's.

Joe let Quinn hold his hand, but Colby thought he saw him stiffen.

"Do you know what Frank is working on?"

Joe was definitely frozen now. "What do you mean?" He managed warily.

Colby thought Joe went out of his way not to look at him.

If Joe messed this up, things were not going to end well for his two camp friends.

"Well he called.." Bess trailed off.

"Our camp counselor," George put in and Joe nodded.

Colby's mind raced. Who were they talking about? When was this call. This was dangerous.

Bess continued, "She was really worried. He was saying a bunch of stuff on the phone to her and he said she couldn't tell anyone she was meeting him, but with how the call ended she felt like she needed someone to know so she told us.."

Joe looked like he was physically bracing himself. "How did it end?" He whispered.

"She heard something that sounded like an explosion and the line cut off," George had adopted Joe's quiet tone.

Joe nodded slowly. He closed his eyes. Colby felt bad for him. He had liked Frank too.

"Frank's dead," Joe told them flatly.

George's eyes widened, she looked stunned. Then confused.

Bess gasped. "Oh Joe!" She hugged him again. "I'm so sorry."

Joe hugged Bess back just tightly and pulled free of Quinn in the process. Quinn frowned at them.

"Nancy would have told us." George said. "She told us everything was fine."

Nancy. The name slip up meant a lot to Colby. He knew who these two girls were now. "Did she tell you about the case?" Colby asked them.

"No, just that she arrived and everything was fine," George muttered.

Bess was crying now and Joe was comforting her.

"She did seem pretty agitated," George said thoughtfully. "But that doesn't make since. I'm sorry Joe. Nancy said that Frank said no one could know where he was.. he told her.." Now George's eyes were watery.

"Let us go back to our cruise ship. We'll get our stuff, and we'll go back with you. You're heading home right?"

Colby's eyes narrowed dangerously and Joe saw it.

"No." Joe snapped, and George took a step back. Bess froze in his arms.

He took a deep breath. "I'm not going back home."

"Joe, your family needs-" Bess started, but he cut her off again.

"Don't! I can't go home right now!"

"Joe! Don't yell at her! It's not her fault!" Quinn jumped in.

Joe froze, emotions rolling across his face too fast to pin down. "I'm sorry," He whispered letting Bess go.

Bess nodded and George grabbed her hand. George gave Joe a look that said she didn't know what to say to him.

Joe held his tears back very well, Colby thought.

"We need to go," Colby told them.

"I'm sorry," Joe repeated as Quinn wrapped a hand around his arm and pulled him past them.

"It was nice to meet you," Quinn said hurriedly, basically pulling Joe along.

As Colby unlocked the car he panned out the possibilities. How long would it take for them to call Nancy Drew? How long before Nancy would tell someone that those two girls had seen Joe? How long would it take for someone to match the description of "Francis" to good ol' Colby Mahner.

Should he turn around and kill them? They wouldn't have made the call yet. Man, he hated killing. He found no joy in taking life, unlike so many people he knew. Bodies leave trails, he told himself as he started the car.

He didn't look to see if the girls were watching them leave, but he felt like their eyes were on him. He didn't have to kill them, Colby repeated in his head. Just switch cars and get out of Missouri. He had been planning on switching cars anyway. He could still faintly smell puke despite the cleaning he had gotten done that morning.

They wouldn't be in this mess if Joe wasn't with him. That clawed at Colby. He looked into the rearview mirror to see Joe's eyes were locked on his own.

Joe's eyes were so cold. He knows, Colby thought again. He tried to tell himself he was paranoid. Joe didn't run when he had the chance too, he told himself. What game is Joe playing?

Colby did his best to look earnest. "I'm sorry about your brother." He just had a few more days of this.

 **INT. CRUISE SHIP LOBBY - 5:00PM**

Kyle Andrews didn't mind working the front desk on the cruise line. Granted, working on cruises were not his passion, but he was trying to save up some money for a new camera he had his eyes on. Stories were his passion. He thought he saw the world better when it was through a lens.

He wished he had his camera now when two striking girls came up to the counter. One had short curly hair and looked like she had just ran a marathon. The other was short of breath too, but she was blonde and was dressed like she was ready for a fashion show.

He smiled at them, and started to ask how he could help, but the blonde spoke right over him. "Can we use the phone. It's an emergency!"

The urgency in her voice made Kyle forgive the rudeness. "Sure thing."

Kyle set up the call for her, and made an effort to appear like he was not eavesdropping on the girls' conversation.

"Nancy! I'm so glad I got a hold of you! Why didn't you tell us!"

The blonde tangled the phone cord around her arm and held the phone out so she and her friend could both listen in.

"Listen we're going to leave the cruise early and head your way. I'm so sorry!" The blonde started tearing up as she spoke.

Kyle thought that was a shame. The two girls leaving early anyway. He hoped they wouldn't try to get refunds.

"What do you mean you don't know what I'm talking about?" The blonde sniffled.

"You must have heard about Frank," The curly-haired one said quietly.

Another pause. Both girls eyed each other hesitantly. "Frank's… Frank he's… He passed away Nancy."

"I'm so sorry, Nancy."

A longer pause. Disbelief and wonder passed across the girls eyes.

"Frank?!"

"Is that really you?!"

Kyle didn't bother to pretend to be working any longer. He watched the girls openingly now. What was going on? Some practical joke, he wondered.

"Joe looked so heartbroken," the curly-haired one said. "I think he really, I knew it didn't make any since."

After a moment. "Yeah, at Shrimp Daddy's." The blond said like it wasn't a big deal. Then she frowned. "He was with his..you know, his… _girlfriend_ and her brother."


	8. Make A Move

**Hi everyone. I'm happy to upload this next chapter. Lot's of wonderful opportunities have opened up in my life and I've been so fortunate to be able pursue them. Sadly, I do not have as much time to dedicate to writing for fun as I would like to have. I hope you like this chapter, I had fun writing it anyway. We're getting closer and closer to the end.**

* * *

 **I/E CAR & ALLEY - BACKWARDS TOWN - 10:00AM**

 _24 hours until trial._

Part of Joe was disappointed that a calvary (sent by Bess and George) hadn't arrived to whisk him away. He wondered why he felt that way. Colby was on their side right? Maybe he was just tired of being stuck in the car. Hours had passed since leaving the restaurant and now they were sitting in a little alley in some forgotten town. Colby was talking to a man on the other side of the alley. The man was large and smoking a cigarette. He put it out against his jeans and the two entered a door that Joe hadn't noticed.

Quinn looked back at Joe. "Can we ditch him now?"

"What? You planning on carrying me?" Joe lifted his ankle off the center console for emphasis. Joe's ankle was handcuffed to Quinn's wrist. She frowned, half glanced down the alley, then started digging around the car. The movement had the cuff rubbing against Joe's ankle.

"You're not going to find anything," He told her, his ankle bugging him.

She groaned leaning her head back against the seat.

"Wow. I didn't except you to give up that easily," Joe said surprising himself.

Quinn snaked her head around the passenger seat to glare at him. "Wow," She mimicked untying his shoe that was on the handcuffed foot. "Give up that easily, he says."

"Quinn," He said cautiously, envisioning her trying to pull the handcuff off him. She took off his shoe. She couldn't be that crazy, could she?

"Your feet stink." She scrunched up her nose.

"Come on, you farted," Joe knew his feet didn't stink, just as he knew she didn't fart.

She ripped off his sock. "That's the best you can do?"

Joe shrugged, "Content wasn't good from the start."

"You know, I'm really sick of that attitude of yours," She grinned and started tickling his foot.

"Stop!" He protested between giggles and jerked his foot back, forgetting they were connected.

"Hey!" Quinn was pulled into the back seat. She pushed up on his legs, and suddenly her face was inches from his. Her eyes looked up into his. Her lips parted slightly as she gained her balance. He was caught off guard by the sudden desire he felt for her.

She closed her eyes and he wondered if her heart was racing too. He leaned in towards her and the car door opened. Quinn jerked, her head colliding with Joe's chin. He grunted and pushed her back towards the passenger seat. She sniffed defiantly. Colby eyed them suspiciously. He placed a filled syringe and couple of small golden packets into one of the cup holders.

Quinn frowned at the items. Colby handed her a folded piece of paper. She frowned at that too and didn't open it.

"What no food? Francis, we haven't ate since Shrimp Daddy's and that was forever ago! Is that your plan for us, slow deaths from starvation? I can't die like this. I'm not fated to being stuck in this car for the rest of my life. I don't know why you keep driving us around in circles, but I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I can't feel my butt. I want out of this car. I want you to uncuff me, I want-."

"I want you to shut up," He said cutting off her demands. "Otherwise I'm going to have to gag you."

"Please do," Joe said with a smile, even though he was hungry too.

"Pick a side, Joe."

Joe was surprised to hear some hurt underneath her icy tone.

"Look I'll get you some food, just read the letter."

Quinn's lip pouted, then she opened it. When she read it her eyes widened. She glanced at Colby as if seeing him in a new light.

"Well this is enlightening." She said off handedly, pocketing the letter.

"You good?" He asked her.

"Fabulous." She said with little emotion.

Joe leaned back into his seat, the wheels spinning in his head.

 **INT. MONITOR ROOM- KANSAS CITY MO- 3:00PM**

 _19 hours until trial._

"I just don't know how this keeps happening. Every time we have a handle on this operation.. It goes south." Max looked at the street camera monitors with disgust.

Nancy placed a hand on Max's arm. "We'll find them."

Max looked at her then, looked into eyes she knew were bright and filled with confidence.

"We have too," He told her softly.

The door opened abruptly, and the two jumped. Nancy's hand jerked back as Max stepped back turning towards the door.

Nancy felt her face flush as she faced Frank, his eyes on them, features carefully poised. She was embarrassed because he had startled her, not because she had been comforting Max. At least that's what she told herself.

"Bess and George?" Frank asked casually.

"Fox has them going through everything again."

Frank nodded, walking up to them to get a better look at the screens, putting himself between the other two. "Anything?"

"No," Max grunted.

"No one else has leads either. The team down the hall thinks tape tampering, but I doubt it."

"Yeah," Nancy agreed. "There's no way Colby has the time for that."

"We're running out of time," Max reminded them, unnecessarily.

"We'll find them," Nancy found herself repeating, this time with a little edge in her voice.

Max eyed her, and then his expression lifted. "Do we even have to?"

"What do you mean?" Nancy asked as Frank spoke over her.

"Of course we do!"

"No, hold on, listen." Nancy watched as Max got a handle on the idea he was forming. "When we emptied that warehouse. Gun residue, condemning material. We really haven't looked at everything, but we have the warrant and if I can find good enough evidence, new evidence against Holmes, maybe I can stall the trial, or maybe we won't need Quinn's testimony at all."

"Those guy's holding them there were trying to extort Holmes not work with them," Frank pointed out.

"They still worked for Holmes at one point," Max argued. "It could lead to something."

"Do you really think you have time for that?" Frank asked incredulous.

Max grew heated. "This entire idea, having Quinn testify against her father. She's unpredictable. She could be anywhere by now, and getting her back on time, if she's.. I think we need to start looking at other options. We've been staring at monitors for hours,"

That statement sparked something in Nancy's mind, but it was just out of reach.

"No," Frank shook his head, "We keep searching, find them, and bring them back here."

"I want to find them," Max agreed, "The cameras have been tracking their predicted trails all the way down to Arkansas and beyond with no results. I'm worried we don't have enough time to get Quinn back here."

Nancy grasped at the idea, ignoring the boys. The statement replayed in her head. A small smile played on her lips as things started to slide into place.

"If you focused all of your attention on this instead of back up plans. I'm sure we'd be that much closer to getting them here."

A knee-jerk laugh escaped Max, "I don't need this. Your free to think that, but we have to get Holmes off the street. All the lives that will.. If you don't get that.." Max shook his head and pointed a thumb towards the door.

"What if they turned around?" Nancy spoke suddenly. The two men looked at her with blank expressions.

"Maybe the reason we can't find where we them is because they're not going south. They're not trying to get away. They're coming back here. Colby's got to be working with Holmes right? Maybe he was just running until he got some sort of instructions. Maybe he's had contact with someone and they told him to return."

"Maybe Holmes is trying to fly Quinn out of here, like on a private air strip. One he controls," Frank offered.

"Follow it," Max decided. "I'm going to follow my lead, when I come back we can decide which route is more logical. I'm going to need your brains. That's the most I can give you."

"Okay," Nancy agreed to the terms before Frank could argue.

 **I/E CAR- A CASEY'S IN KANSAS CITY - 6:00PM**

 _16 hours until trial._

Quinn's head rested against the car's window as she stared at the world speeding past her. She watched the miles tick down on green signs announcing their approach to Kansas City with a fluttery feeling in her stomach.

The handcuff on her wrist tugged as Joe shifted in the back seat, but she barely felt it. Quinn had been keeping her eyes towards the window, despite all Joe's shifting and Colby's chatter. She was tied down and she hated it. It made her want what the note promised even more.

When they entered Kansas City her excitement grew and her conscious nagged at her. She had finally been promised what she had always wanted, so why did she feel so guilty about it.

Colby took an exit, pulling into a Casey's. Quinn risked a glance into the rearview mirror and found Joe's eyes there. She quickly looked away back towards the window.

Colby pulled up to one of the gas pumps. He looked over towards Quinn.

"So I shouldn't have to worry about any funny business?" He asked, trying to sound cryptic.

It pissed her off. "Every second you spend trying to get a confirmation is a minute more I'll spend on changing my mind."

Colby opened his mouth, but proceeded to think twice about it. He opened the door and started to get out, but his hand hesitated over the contents in the cupholder. He ended up snatching the items up and pocketing them as he walked into the gas station.

Quinn watched him go past the register and towards the back of the station. Bathroom break, she mused.

"Quinn?" Joe asked after a minute.

"Joe?" She responded in turn.

"What did the letter say?"

She winked at him. "Oh, that? Colby decided to confess his deep affections for me. A nice thought, little weird, though I kinda had a feeling, but, hey, it even rhymes."

"Yeah, he's a real poet," Joe retorted. "Now, really?"

"Okay, Okay," She rolled her eyes. "But you've got to promise not to tell."

Joe waited for her to continue, then realized she wanted to hear a spoken promise. He rolled his eyes. "I swear."

"Good, because, people might think this is crazy. But this note. It's from the future. It's got next year's Super Bowl winners."

"That's pretty cool, can I see?" Joe tried to switch tactics on her.

"Nah," She turned him down quickly. "Knowing the future is a dangerous thing."

He eyed her. "Oh, I can handle it."

"But you don't need too," She insisted.

"Look, if they have something over you, we can get around it. Fox can help you. I'll make sure you get out of this."

The sincerity of his tone had her tailspinning. She frantically searched for a sign of Colby. "Where is he? Get lost in there? Think he's constipated or maybe found a pretty girl to-"

Without warning Joe shoved into the front seat and went for the letter.

"Hey!" She protested as he dug in her pocket. "Stop!"

But she didn't try to stop him, as he snagged it and pushed away from her. She could have put up a bigger fight. She could have snagged it right back, thrown it out the window, but something held her back.

The letter was short, a note really, and Joe read it fast.

He glanced up at her, suddenly guarded. "You don't actually believe this do you? What it implies."

It wasn't the response she had been hoping for. She snagged the letter back, tucking it in her bra this time. She looked out the window as if looking for Colby. "What is taking him so long? Are you worried? I'm worried. Maybe he-" The exasperated sound Joe released quieted her.

"How could you," the disgust in his voice had him shaking his head. "Why am I?" Abruptly, he pulled a broken and tattered homemade bracelet out of his pocket. He started rubbing a section of it between his thumb and forefinger.

The bracelet looked familiar to Quinn, but she couldn't place where or why. "Where'd you get that?"

Joe didn't answer, but it didn't matter, because Quinn watched in awe as a lock pick pushed out of the bracelet and Joe had the cuffs off in less then 30 seconds.

"It's been that easy for you this whole time?!" She exclaimed.

Joe sent Quinn a smile that made her heart miss a beat.

He exited out the back seat and opened he passenger side door for Quinn. "I would've let us out sooner, but I wanted proof that Colby was the mole first. The note, letter, whatever, does it for me, so let's go."

Quinn hesitated, looking down at the ground. She was stuck in indecision.

"All that time you didn't run away when you could have Quinn. That's got to mean something."

Quinn looked up then, and panic shot through her. Colby was behind Joe, syringe in hand.

Joe read her expression and turned, but it was too late. Colby stabbed the syringe into Joe's throat and injected him. Frozen, Quinn watched as Joe staggered.

 **INT. MONITOR ROOM- KANSAS CITY MO- 7:00PM**

 _15 hours before trial._

Frank knew they were running out of time. They had found signs that Nancy's speculation was right, Colby had turned around, and hopefully Quinn and Joe were still with them. However, between the two of them, they hadn't been able to pin down the vehicle's exact location. Instead of continuing to search through the monitors, Frank had started pouring through paperwork. All the private air strips in Kansas City, and trying to lock down which ones if any may belong to Holmes, or ones that he could be familiar or have influence with.

"Frank.. Any…?" At Frank's face expression, Nancy trailed off. She didn't have anything either.

A silence passed between them. It was as if all the energy drained out of Frank.

"I can't lose him," Frank whispered.

Nancy looked away from the monitors. "Pardon?"

Frank tried to talk, but the words wouldn't form.

Nancy walked over to him. "What's wrong?"

"What if we don't get them in time?"

"Max is looking hard for some new evidence to stall it. Maybe Fox will get Bache to talk."

"Forget the trial," Frank snapped at her.

She quieted then, and he instantly felt regret.

"I'm sorry," He whispered.

"You've been apologizing a lot recently," She grumbled.

A ghost of a smile touched his lips then. "It seems to be the only words I can get right."

"Is it?" She questioned.

Frank looked up at her then, eyes flooded with emotion. "Nancy, I.."

"Stop holding back," She urged him, taking his hand.

"I don't know where to begin," He said, surprised at how the admission hurt, but also freed him.

"Start with now," She grinned, and kissed him softly. A warmth overwhelmed him as he kissed her back, his mind focusing on only one thing: Nancy Drew.

And in that moment everything felt as it should be.


	9. Pins and Needles

**INT. MONITOR ROOM- KANSAS CITY MO- 7:30 PM**

 _14.5 hours before trial._

It was as if a weight lifted off of Nancy. Overwhelmed in unanswered questions, she was suddenly free of something she hadn't realized was the source of so much indecision. She wanted Frank. He was the missing piece of her puzzle. The turning point in her biggest mystery.

She loved him.

She pulled away from him.

"I know you said what you said when you were under a lot of stress and that's why you said you said it, but, wow, how could you take it back if it feels like this?"

Frank looked at her. "What are you talking about?"

She slapped a hand to her forehead, a frustrated sound escaping her. "I'm talking about clarity. Happiness. Freedom. What you said. Why did you take it back?

"What I said about freedom and happiness?" Frank repeated slowly.

She frowned at him. "You're not following."

"You've lost me," He answered her question despite her speaking it like a statement.

Nancy took a deep breath. "Sorry, I'm just used to us being on the same page. And I feel like we've have trouble talking ever since.."

A smile touched Frank's lips, but was gone as quick as it came. "I know. I'm off. I can't think. Nothing seems to be going right. I feel like I'm running out of time. Like Joe's running out of time. Nancy, if anything happened to him, I don't know what I do.."

Nancy faltered. She wanted to talk about her feelings for him. His for hers. How instead of redirecting, misdirecting or even avoiding them entirely was preventing them from working to their full potential. But if she could straighten this out, she could focus on finding Joe. They could focus on finding Joe.

"Did you mean it when you told me loved me?"

He blinked at her. Silent. Eyes unreadable.

"We need talk about this," She insisted.

"Nancy, I," He turned away from her, and the warmth that filled her so completely started to numb her instead.

Nancy started to reach for him when the door opened.

Max entered and Nancy knew her window of opportunity had closed. She let her hand drop.

Max looked overwhelmed.

"Things are escalating on the DA's side." The district attorney, Nancy mentally translated as Max continued. "Holmes's defense lawyer is a real tool."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Nancy said, her anger not really for the defense attorney.

"What do you guys have for me?" Max studied them for a second. "Or is it time for Plan B?"

"No," Frank said suddenly. He grabbed a piece of paper off the stack of papers he'd been going through. He started to read off the paper. "Mosely Airport. It's a private strip off of highway 10, outside of KC like your headed to Lawerence."

"I know the highway," Max said. "You sure that's where they're headed?"

"Yeah," Frank lied. "Let's go."

"Okay, I'll drive," Max said, believing him.

Nancy was quiet as she followed the men out. She knew Frank had picked the airport out randomly and her gut told her something was wrong.

 **I/E CAR- A CASEY'S IN KANSAS CITY - 7:30PM**

 _14.5 hours before trial._

Joe read her expression and started to turn, but it was all for not. The needle pierced his neck; a cold, sharp pain shocking his system. Joe staggered back, smacking a hand to his neck. It helped as much as slapping at a mosquito after it's feasted and fled.

"Run," He croaked at Quinn, but she was motionless. He felt his limbs grow heavy and he knew he couldn't go down without a fight. Maybe he could distract Colby long enough for Quinn to get it together and get away. He lunged at Colby and the two sprawled onto the concrete. Joe fought dirty, instantly going for Colby's throat and eyes.

Joe thought his outburst must have surprised Colby, because instead of fighting back, he just tried to force Joe off of him.

Soon enough, Colby was able to do just that. A gradual heaviness overtook Joe's body completely. Colby rolled Joe off him and Joe realized he didn't feel a thing. Joe put all his effort into trying to get his body to move, respond to his commands, but he laid there until Colby peeled him off the concrete, a dead weight. He tried to speak, to blink; he was paralyzed and it terrified him. As Colby shifted Joe up and over his shoulder, Joe caught a glimpse of Quinn. She hadn't left, her door was closed now, and she didn't even look over at him as he was carried around to the back of the car.

Joe hated her in that moment.

Colby opened the trunk with one hand and rolled Joe roughly into the hold with the other. Joe didn't feel anything though. Nothing, but the rage boiling inside of him.

He glared at Colby and the trunk lid closed, leaving him in complete darkness. He felt a weird sense of vertigo when he could hear the car start and leave the gas station, but couldn't feel the vibration of the car engine roar or the tires rotating on the road.

Joe grew overwhelmingly frustrated. He knew how to get out of a trunk. Look for a release latch, on older models like the one he was in he needed to kick out the taillight. Stick his arm out and wave to the traffic around.

He couldn't believe no one had done anything at the gas station. Hadn't their been people around? Maybe not, unless he counted Quinn. He felt so bitterly betrayed by her.

He was mad at her. He was mad at his situation. He was mad at Frank for leaving him. He wondered if this was what dying felt like. Dark, numb, horribly aware of the end.

He felt utterly helpless. He didn't feel the tears that touched his cheeks.

 **I.E. CRUISER - MOSELY AIRPORT- 8:30 PM**

 _13.5 hours before trial._

Frank felt like a criminal viewing his crime scene from the backseat of a police cruiser. Earlier, he had tried to open the door, but realized he was locked in. Stuck, watching his father, Fox, Max, and Nancy have an argument just outside the scene Frank had caused.

Officially, the scene was an arrival of several divisions of law enforcement who had raced to Mosely Airport to assist with the securing of witness, Quinn Holmes; rescuing of handler, Joe Hardy; and arresting of rogue agent, Colby Mahner. However, when they arrived it was soon discovered the location had been a lie, told by a conflicted brother who had been pressed for time.

Frank did not feel bad about his lie. In fact, he thought it was more of a hypothesis. A hypothesis that was proven false, but at least tested. If he was in charge, he would be sending law enforcement to all the private plane strips, whatever the constitute for proper procedure of probable cause happened to be.

He just wanted Joe back. He didn't care about the case.

The group split. Fox headed back into the scene of law enforcement. His father headed towards him. Max ushered Nancy to follow him. Nancy did with some reluctance. Frank watched them suspiciously as they disappeared from sight.

He jumped at the sound of knocking on glass. He looked up to find his dad staring down at him.

"You gonna let me out?" Frank spoke loud enough to be heard through the locked door.

Fenton opened the door from the outside.

"They shouldn't have locked you in here."

His dad frowned in the direction of the detectives who had stuck him in the back seat.

"It's whatever," Frank shrugged it off, just glad to be out. "What's the next move?"

"Well, we go back to the hotel.." Frank knew his father was holding something back.

"Dad."

"You're off the case, Frank."

It felt like a sucker punch. "Was it Max?" Frank accused, stepping past him, not waiting for an answer. "I can't believe he would do this!" Frank started to head towards where he had seen Max lead Nancy off.

"Hold on."

Frank pivoted to face his father. "What?"

"It doesn't matter who made the call. It's done. Let it go."

"Let it go?" Frank repeated, then forced himself to calm down. "I made a mistake. I admit it. They can let it go."

Because Frank wasn't going to let it go. But he wasn't going to blow up on his father either.

"Let's go. I'll deal with Max later." Frank expected a verbal reprimand to result from his comment, but it didn't come. Instead, his father put an arm around him and they walked away.

 **INT. MOTEL ROOM - KANSAS CITY MO- 9:30 PM**

 _12.5 hours before trial._

Quinn sat on the hotel floor. There hadn't been any good places to cuff her to. Colby settled on cuffing one of her ankle's to a table. The table had circle top and a single leg supporting it's weight from the center. It made it awkward to stand up.

She sat and listened to Colby's half of his phone conversation.

"You think I don't know that?" He was saying. "We almost drove straight into their laps."

As they had been about to turn into an airport, Colby had realized it was flooded with cops.

"I don't think they were waiting for us. It could been a raid."

Quinn's eyes drifted to Joe and it made her stomach sick. He was so still. Dumped on the bed, like a dead body.

She told herself, as Colby had told her, he would come out of it. Eventually.

"Well, we made it through the security check points they had set without an issue," Colby laughed half heartedly.

She felt guilty. The guilt made her angry.

"Quinn?" She looked over at Colby grudgingly when he said her name.

He was standing, grabbing the room key. He wasn't talking to her.

"Well, she.." Colby walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Quinn waited for a minute, her eyes trained on the door.

After Colby didn't come back in, Quinn whispered, "Joe?"

He didn't answer.

"Hey, if you can talk, you gotta tell me," She insisted, dropping the whisper.

Nothing.

"Colby said you'd be okay," She said out loud more for herself than for him.

After a minute she tried again. "Joe, come on."

She decided to see if he was messing with her. She stood up, bracing the table for balance. The bed where Joe lay was only a short distance away. She used her weight to rock the table. She and the table fell over and she groaned at the impact and the pain stemming from her ankle.

She pushed herself up and rolled the table to the bed. Pushing the table upside down, she was able to sit on the bed with her legs hanging off.

She stared at Joe's red, angry eyes. They weren't looking at her.

"Joe." She waved a hand in front of his eyes. They moved, but he was unable to blink. He glared at her then.

"I'm sorry this happened to you," She was sincere, but Joe's eyes didn't soften.

She frowned at him. "What?"

He looked away from her.

"Colby said it would wear off. When it does you can get out of here. I'll.. I'll help you if I can."

He still ignored her.

"I wish you could talk." She confessed to him. "Though I'm sure you'd just be yelling at me. Telling me how horrible I am for wanting the easy way out. For not wanting to testify against my own dad."

She was bitter, and she grabbed his arm that closest to her. Joe's eyes watched his arm be pulled. Quinn started to massage his hand, hoping to speed up the recovery process.

"I know he's done some bad things." She corrected herself, "A bunch of horrible things."

She didn't stop massaging as she spoke.

"But he was never horrible to me. He took care of me. He loved me. My mom wasn't around. He would tell me stories about her, how she was off doing important things in the world. Saving it from bad people in the world like him. Like how she would actually make a difference, where he was stuck being another link in the system. It took me years to figure out my mom was actually some prostitute who couldn't look past finding her next fix…"

Quinn reflected on the memory. She had been heart broken.

"I realized he was trying to show me that there's something out there besides the life. But it's all I know. Even if Colby can get me somewhere where I can start over.. I have no safety net, no support group. I know choices to you are all black and white. I should do the right thing. The greater good." Her laugh had no mirth in it. Her eyes were daggers.

She didn't realize Joe was looking at her now.

"But if I take down my dad, someone else will just take his place.. It could be someone worse. Like Bache. I wish you people would see that and just leave it alone."

She looked down at him then. "Can you feel this at all?"

She dropped his arm and poked his face. He didn't flinch, but his eyes seemed to frowning at her.

They had lost some of the anger. She started to poke and rub at his body, his face. She even pinched him trying to get some response.

"Nothing, huh?" She sighed and laid down next to him.

"You know, I think I liked you better when you were annoying and feisty." She said to the ceiling. "Your pretty boring right now. Kind of like the toy your dog is tired of playing with."

She looked over at him then expecting to see some anger flare up again, but his eyes were closed.

"Joe?" She said, and one of the eye lids lifted.

"Are you doing that?" She was hopeful.

Joe winked at her.

 **INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - KANSAS CITY MO- 2:30 AM**

 _8.5 hours before trial._

Bache started to whisper something to the nurse. Her name plate said Sheila. She was small and looked to be in her mid 40's. Bache's hands were cuffed to the rails of the bed, so he didn't appear to pose much of a threat. But he had been working on a solution to that since he been conscious enough to think straight.

When the nurse came close to hear him, he kicked her hard across the jaw. She dropped hard and fast. The guard raced to her side cursing Bache. Bache ripped the rails from the bed and slammed them over the guards head. The guard dropped on top of Sheila. Bache pulled his IV, and used the guards keys to unlock the cuffs. Hands free he rolled the guard off of Sheila and moved her to the bed. He placed the reader on her finger, stripped the guard of his clothing and dressed quickly. When another nurse came to check the disruption in the reading, Bache used the guards taser on him.

Bache escaped the hospital with ease. He had only one thing on his mind. Revenge.


	10. Ghosts and Guts

**Hey everyone.. Look at me go, I actually wrote another chapter in a decent amount of time lol.. It's a long one too! I had developed a pattern of keeping the chapters around 2,000 words each while I was writing this, but there's a lot of action in this chapter, and I didn't want to cut off the momentum. And I kinda knew where I wanted this chapter to end sooo sorry it's like almost three times that, but hopefully you'll like it?... Also there's a lot of perspective jumping and I'm a little worried will be hard to follow, since I can't figure out how to do extra line breaks in here.. so I just put one of those lines in between them, so I really hope it's easy enough to follow... heh, because the action is on point.**

 **But anyway, Thank you to everyone who has kept up with the story or just started reading it and has read it to this point! Especially you reviewers! Ya'll make my day!**

 **Xenthia ch. 7 review:** Thank you! Hope you're still enjoying it.

 **Guest ch. 1 review:** Yes! It is Nancy/Frank. Nancy comes in a bit later, but it's there! I promise.

 **Guest ch. 2 review:** hahaha yea. Here's another one! You're almost done.

 **Cherylann Rivers ch. 9 review:** Hahahaha yeah! I seem to dig interruptions.. I can't stop writing them. Thank you so much by the way. I added your story too. Can't wait to see what memory Callie reflects on next!

 **Cameronmn ch. 6 review:** Yeah! Glad you dig the gun scene and the tension at the end with Nan and Frank!

 **Cameronmm ch. 7** **review:** Well, I'm good at awkward lol I hope. Thanks!

 **Smithy ch. 5 review:** Thank you! Yeah, I actually got introduced to the Hardy Boys through the show, and am trying to read the books now. I threw in Parker Stevenson for ya in this chapter, though I'm not sure it was as genius as the Shaun Cassidy line. xD

* * *

 **INT. HOTEL ROOM - THE RAPHAEL HOTEL - 3:00 AM**

 _8 hours before trial._

Frank woke at the sound of knocking. He glanced at the alarm clock and saw the glow of three am. The knocking continued. Frank pushed out of bed and walked to the door.

He looked through the peep hole, but couldn't see anything. When the knock came as he was peeping, it startled him. Someone was covering the peep hole so he couldn't see who it was!

This alarmed him, and he walked back into the room and unplugged a lamp from the wall. He took off the lamp's shade and unscrewed the lightbulb. Holding the lamp upside down, behind his back, he felt prepared to knock out the knocker with his makeshift club.

He released a small breath, and opened the door an inch.

The tension in his back died immediately. "One second."

He closed the door, disposed of the lamp, and unbolted the chain. He opened the door wider. Nancy stood there holding two cups of coffee. Max stood behind her, taking a sip from the cup he was holding, looking overly uninterested.

"Come to gloat or apologize?" Frank questioned Max. Frank was tired and edgy. "Frank!" Nancy sounded embarrassed. "Here." She thrusted the coffee at him and he was forced to take it.

Max looked at Frank like he was dealing with a child. "Neither. We caught wind of something and figured you'd like to be part of it."

"Oh, so even though you got me kicked off the case you think I'll just jump-"

"Hey!" Max spoke right over him. "Your actions got you kicked off the case. This isn't one of your private detective gigs where you can do whatever you want when you want. There are rules. Laws to follow."

Frank was about to defend his turf, when Nancy confided quietly, "Besides we all got kicked from the case." Max frowned at Nancy, like she betrayed him. "I'll get the car. Don't take to long."

Frank scoffed, to him it looked like Max would rather leave the situation then blow up on Nancy. Some how Max's choice frustrated Frank more. He wanted another excuse to yell at Max, and Max was walking away from it.

"Hey, you need to lighten up. Max decided to include you in this before I had a chance to ask. You two may clash, but he knows when to turn it off to work professionally. To get the job done. Normally, you do too."

It felt like a slap. He drank some of the coffee and ushered her into the room behind him. He changed the subject. "So, what's going on?"

"Bache escaped the hospital."

"What?" Frank asked freezing in the middle of putting a shirt on. "Yeah. He caused quite the scene in the room. Put on what the guard was wearing, then walked out of there like he owned the place."

"No way," Frank reached for his socks and shoes.

"I know," Nancy said before he was even done speaking.

After Frank finished tying his shoes, he started to the bathroom. "Your hair's fine," Nancy lied.

He rolled his eyes at her. "I'm brushing my teeth."

She followed him to the bathroom and he made a deliberate show of putting toothpaste on toothbrush. She laughed, "Come on, he's going to leave us."

"Let him," Frank said, killing the humor. Realizing his mistake, he followed it with "Kidding. What are we doing anyway?"

"Looking at the case from a private detective's perspective," She said.

"Ah, the practice of getting the job done however you want when you want. I hear you can do that without having rules to follow. Or the law," He said with a wink.

"Brush your teeth, Frank," She said. But she said it with a smile.

 **I/E. STOPLIGHT, NEAR ST. LUKES HOSPITAL - MIDTOWN - 5:00 AM**

 _6 hours before trial._

Quinn had adopted a pose of staring out the window so she didn't have to look at Colby driving or back at Joe laying down in the back seat. It would all be over soon. When Colby had roused them this morning, Joe had been able to lift his arm, wiggle his fingers and toes, and scrunch his face. He could talk, but his tongue was so swollen, she couldn't understand a word he said. He had tried to stand, but couldn't even straighten his legs all the way. He collapsed as soon he let go of his support.

He looked more in more like he was pain, his face contorted in it. It scared her. She was terrified to think of what would happen to him after she was on the plane. She played with the idea of convincing Colby to let her take Joe with her, but dismissed it quickly. She knew she would never really be free if anyone knew where she was going.

She felt so guilty.

It was a weekday, and the streets were filled with cars, even though the sun wasn't up yet. As Colby pulled into a right turning lane, she locked eyes with a guy who was in the back seat of a car, about to turn left. She glanced away and so did he, as her car started to make the right. Then she jerked her gaze back to the guy as she suddenly recognized him. He had done the same thing. She felt the color drain out of her skin. Quinn quickly looked away again. Frank Hardy had come back from the grave to haunt her.

* * *

"Turn around! Turn around!" Frank yelled from the back seat, excitement getting to him.

"What? You see him? Where?" Max asked looking around while keeping and eye on the road as they made the left.

"No, but turn-"

"I'm not turning until-"

"I saw Quinn!"

"What?"

"Brown crown Vic. S-G-E 6-E-L"

Max cursed, and forced his way over so he could make a u-turn.

Nancy was looking back the way they had come, "I don't see them."

Max was able to make the u-turn.

"She was making a right turn, so just go straight. She has to be there."

"Bet they're heading for 35," Max said. Frank, nor Nancy questioned him. Max knew the area best. Max turned onto 169, knowing it was most direct route to 35.

"There's the car!" Nancy spotted it first. It was far enough ahead that they couldn't really make out the model, let alone the plates. It was long and brown and that was good enough for Nancy.

"Can't you, like, turn on your lights? Get around this traffic," Nancy asked him.

Max didn't drive a typical police car, but it did have two emergency lights above the mirror, and a radio. "I can, but if I did, I'd have to call it in. And I'm not calling it in, until I see her myself."

"What? My word's not good enough for you?" Frank called from the back seat.

Max looked into his rear view mirror, with no anger, just authority. "No, it's not."

Frank kept his gaze. "I saw her."

"Max! Max!" Nancy yelped, and his attention went back to the road. A large truck was swerving into their lane. Max hit the brakes and put a hand on the horn.

But the truck kept pushing them off the road. Nancy watched the truck's bed swing closer and closer to her and braced herself. There was no where for Max to go.

Suddenly, the car seemed to realize what it was doing and jerked back over. "Idiot," Max grumbled.

"I don't have eyes on the Vic, do you Frank?" Nancy sounded worried. Frank looked around for the car too. He didn't see it either.

 **EXT. MOSELY AIRPORT - DE SOTO, KS 6:00 AM**

 _5 hours before trial._

Joe's entire body felt like pins and needles. He felt like his body was covered in a protective shield of hardened mud. The mud was stiff and made it difficult to move. He had to fight to close his hand into a fist, but as he did, the hardened mud shield started to crumble and dissolve. The sharpness of the pins and needles that pricked him through the mud intensified one hundred percent as the shield crumbled. The pain shocked his system, begging him to stop moving.

His body was asleep, and he needed to wake up.

He was able to push himself up as they pulled into the airport, a wave of dizziness overwhelming his internal systems.

Colby got out of the car first and headed to the small plane.

The luggage department door in the belly of the plane was open, and Joe recognized it as a door that could be accessed from inside the plane as an escape hatch, as well as from the outside as a loading dock.

Colby noticed it was open too and walked toward it to check it out.

Quinn started to get out as well.

"Quinn don't," Joe tried to say, but it came out more like "Qwuall dawh."

She seemed to get what he was saying.

"I have to do this," She told him.

Joe shook his head. She closed the front passenger door. "Look do you think you can drive?" She opened the back door where he sat.

He gave her an incredulous look.

"Seriously," She said. "You're going to have too. I'll help you get into the driver's seat and then you get out of here."

You're breaking the law, Quinn, came out like "Yaw bwachnah thaw law, Qwuall."

She puzzled over it for a half a second, but shook her head. "Come on," She wrapped her arms around him and started to pull him out. "Can't you help me out here? You're like a dead weight. Colby's going to turn around and see us." Quinn spared a look towards Colby who was still checking out the loading dock.

Joe braced an arm on the car roof, and worked his legs onto the concrete. Quinn and the car was the only thing keeping him up right. There was no way he could drive.

"Hussa stahpud," This is stupid, he told her.

Another car slowly drove into the lot, but Quinn nor Joe noticed it heading their way.

* * *

What Colby saw in the loading dock puzzled him. He was told the pilot would be waiting for them outside the plane on their arrival. With what he found, he felt like the pilot wasn't the only lie he had been told. He circled to the regular entrance and started up the small set of stairs; he would find and confront the pilot. He couldn't wrap his mind around what he had come across.

He opened the plane's door and Earl Bache smiled coldly at him, startling all thoughts of the loading dock and the open hatch door from his mind.

Bache had been waiting for him inside the plane! Bache raised a hand and fear froze Colby, a deer in the headlights.

Bache fired a single shot, and Colby's head jerked back and his body followed. He was dead before he hit the ground.

The shot startled Quinn and Joe. Joe's arm slipped off the car, and the weight was too much for Quinn. They fell, Joe pinning Quinn underneath him.

Shock filled Joe. He thought he had killed Bache. He remembered the way the gun had pulled when it fired. The way Bache had fell. The blood.

"Move, move, move," Quinn pushed at him, as Bache made his was down.

A angry sound escaped Joe; he was doing the best he could and she knew it!

"Don't put this on me," She hissed at him. "I was trying to help you, and now you're going to get me killed!"

She failed to mention, that if she had followed Colby straight away, she believed she would have been dead already.

* * *

The shot also startled the three in the car.

Nancy gasped.

"Max, go!" Frank yelled from the back seat. He only heard one shot, but saw three bodies fall.

Max drove faster.

Bache saw the car approaching and sighed. He calmly fired at the car. The windshield shattered and the three of the ducked, Nancy and Max were showered by the glass.

Another shot fired, and Max swerved, a yell escaping him. Blood blossomed from Max's right shoulder. A string of curses escaped him, and Nancy grabbed the wheel as Max left hand went to his shoulder and he hissed as he applied pressure to it.

In the back seat, Frank stripped his shirt off and started ripping it. Bache fired again, exploding a tire. The car rumbled.

As Bache fired at the car, Quinn was able to get out from underneath Joe. She pulled Joe with all her might, and was able to get him back into the car. Even if it was only into the floor of the back seat. She closed the door and climbed through to the front seat. She looked for the keys, and realized the fatal flaw of her plan. She hit the steering wheel hard. It hurt her hand.

"Max?" Nancy questioned, concerned.  
The other tire went. Max pulled out his gun, and poorly returned fire. The car rolled to a stop. Frank opened the back door. Bache started to head towards them.

"Stay down," Quinn told Joe like he had a choice. She opened the front door and ran to where Colby lay.

Max fired at Bache again, and Bache ducked down, he had nothing for cover. He looked for something for cover and saw Quinn at Colby's body. Bache started firing fast at the car as he back tracked to Quinn.

Quinn saw him coming. She got over her repulsion at seeing Colby dead, brains scattered, and dug into his pockets, finding the car keys.

Nancy and Max stayed under the dash as they were fired upon. Frank worked his way out of the car using the back door as a shield. When the raid of shots ceased Frank glanced around the side of the door and saw Bache grab Quinn. Frank did a mad dash to the Crown Victoria.

Quinn screamed as Bache grabbed her. She hadn't moved fast enough. Nancy and Max heard the scream and cautiously peered up over the dash.

They saw Bache pull Quinn in front of him, pressing the gun to her temple.

They also saw Frank sprinting to Colby's car. "Idiot," Max muttered.

Then, Quinn elbowed Bache hard in the side where she knew Joe had shot him.

Bache hissed and released his grip on her.

She took the opportunity and sped towards the car, Bache behind her, cursing her.

Max fired at Bache and missed.

* * *

Frank opened the back door.

He saw a body crumbled on the floor and panic consumed him. He could only see the back of Joe's head from the angle he was at. "Joe," He said, climbing into the back seat to the other side. He didn't see any blood, but..

Quinn was so close, just as she was reaching the car's long nose, Bache grabbed her by the shoulder, whirling her. As she spun she threw the keys at the car.

They smacked the winshield and caused Frank to jump from inside the car.

Bache caught her by throat with one hand and started to squeeze. Her eyes started to buldge and she clawed at his hand.

"See," Bache said to her. "See how easy it would be for me just to kill you?"

Frank saw what was happening and looked down at Joe, "I'll be right back." He opened the door. As he exited the car, Bache fired at him. Frank dropped down fast and was suddenly in view of Joe's eyeline. His dark eyes locked onto his brother's light ones.

Frank forgot Quinn.

Bache switched his grip on Quinn and picked her up. She went for his side again, but he knocked her over the head with the butt of the gun and she laid limp in his arms.

* * *

"Cover me" Nancy said.

"What?" Max said.

"Cover me!" She repeated, then she jumped out of the car. Bache was going up the stairs of the plane.

Instead of running directly at Bache, Nancy ran to the right, going around to the other side of the plane.

Inside the plane, Bache dropped Quinn in a heap on the floor, then worked his way to the pilot's chair. He started flipping switches and turning knobs. The plane started roaring to life.

Nancy ran for the loading dock's hatch as it was closing. She wasn't fast enough, and it was out of reach. She quickly surveyed her situation and started scaling one of the planes leg's that would help her reach the loading hatch door.

* * *

"Hey, you okay?" Frank asked Joe.

Joe stared at him. Even if Joe could speak normally, he wasn't sure he would've been able to.

His brother was dead. Yet, here was Frank. Disheveled, maybe, but right in front of him.

"Joe?" Frank said again, concern growing in his voice. Joe's eyes refocused. Frank really was there.

Joe's eyes started to swell.

"Hey, hey, hey," Frank said softly. It scared Frank. He didn't understand why Joe wasn't moving. Why Joe wasn't talking. "What's wrong?"

Joe swallowed, then shook his head. Joe was suddenly embarrassed about what had happened to him.

"Can you talk?" Another head shake.

Frank's throat tightened as he tried to figure out what was going on. Joe face was beat, but recovering. He could see the black eyes discoloring, the swelling on his nose fading. A scab on his lip healing.

"Can you get up?" Frank asked then, and the first of the tears started to fall.

A burning rage started to fill Frank, but he didn't let it show. "Hey, you're okay. You're okay. I'm here. I got you. Do you want to sit up?"

At Joe's nod, Frank slowly helped Joe up off the floor and into the seat. Frank could feel the dead weight in his brothers body, but he could also feel him trying to sit up on his own.

Max crossed the front of Frank's field of vision, and Frank realized the plane that had been in front of them was now gone.

Max opened the drivers side door. He started to sit down and noticed the keys were missing.

"Keys?" Max asked without looking back at them.

Frank found the plane further down the strip, preparing for take off.

"Try the windshield," Frank said, remembering the impact on the glass.

Max frowned at Frank, but saw Joe and let the frown drop. "Good to have you back, Joe." He said.

Joe nodded and Max found the keys.

Max started the car and started speeding down the strip. Max had tied a tight knot around his shoulder using the strips from Frank's shirt, but the blood was soaking through them, and the arm lay useless against his side.

"Where's Nancy?"

"She's hanging on the plane, like she's friggin' Super Girl," He grumbled.

"What?!" Frank cried, alarmed.

They raced to the plane, and Frank got a good view of Nancy getting the latch open and slipping.

Frank gripped the headrest in front of him, and Max hit the gas harder, but Nancy didn't fall. She caught the door and the force pulled it the rest of the way open. She dangled above the ground dangerously as the plane picked up speed.

Nancy started to swing her hips. She created momentum and was able to propel herself up and her legs into the hatch's opening. Her limbs burned, and her legs pushed up, but found nothing to grab onto. She let go of the door with one hand and reached up grabbing closer to where the door was hinged to the belly of the plane.

Then she turned so her belly was also facing the ground. She let go of the hand that was still at the bottom of the door and pushed herself up, landing another limb inside the plane. Nancy closed her eyes.

She sucked in a big breath and released it. It was now or never, she decided and opened her eyes. In the same instant, she pushed off the door and rolled.

She was in the plane!

The elation died quickly, however, when she got a good look at her surroundings. The plane was clearly rigged to explode.

* * *

"She's in," Max let out a breath. Frank grinned. The plane started to turn around reaching the end of the strip.

"Get underneath it when you can," Frank said, and Max u-turned the car.

* * *

Nancy looked at the complicity of the bomb, and didn't want to mess with it.

It looked big enough to kill anyone on the plane, but not big enough to take it down completely.

It also told her she had about 23 minutes before it exploded.

She didn't know how she was going to get out of there when she noticed the Crown Victoria driving parallel to the plane.

She stuck her arm out the opening and gave a thumbs up. She hoped they saw it and knew she meant to come out this way.

Nancy then moved up the plane into the cabin where she saw Quinn awake and buckled into a chair holding her head.

Quinn saw her and frowned.

Nancy hurried over to her. "Nancy Drew, I'm here to get you out of here."

Quinn frowned at her, and shook her head. "Sorry, Nancy Drew, but I don't need to be rescued. I want to be here."

"Right," Nancy smirked. "You want to be in the plane rigged with explosives."

Quinn's frowned deepened. "Show me."

"Come on, then," Nancy said, used to people challenging her word. Quinn unbuckled, and followed Nancy and her nonchalant attitude into the belly of the plane.

When Quinn saw Nancy was right, a sick feeling washed over Quinn and she had to sit down.

She couldn't believe it. "Can you disarm it?" Quinn asked her.

"I don't think so," Nancy frowned, she didn't like to admit to things she couldn't do.

The plane lifted off the ground and Nancy and Quinn were thrown off balance.

The nose of the plane tipped up and the air started sucking out of the hatch's opening. "We have to move now," Nancy told her and was getting onto her feet working her way to the opening.

"What? How?" Quinn asked, following Nancy.

Nancy looked down and saw the Crown Victoria was now underneath the plane. Frank was crawling onto the top of the car through one of the backseat's open windows.

"Jump," Nancy said.

"Okay," Quinn said.

Nancy was surprised. She was used to more resistance. Then she remembered Max telling her that Quinn Holmes was scared of nothing.

"Okay," Nancy said. "I'll lower you down, and Frank will help keep you on the car."

"Let's do this."

Nancy admired her attitude. It made her smile.

There was nothing really solid for Nancy to grab onto, so she sat on one side of the hatch's opening and braced her legs against the opening on the other side where the door still hung open.

Quinn started to lower herself in-between Nancy's legs using the door for foot grips.

Quinn locked wrists with Nancy and Nancy slowly lowered her, the strain of holding Quinn evident on her face.

Quinn was still a few feet above Frank's reach, but he gave the go ahead.

"Nancy," Quinn said with all seriousness, "We should hang out more often." Then Quinn let go of Nancy, and Nancy did the same in return.

Quinn dropped, and hit Frank, the two fell back, hard on the car's roof creating a sizable dent and almost rolling off the side in the process.

Quinn laughed and tried to get her breath back at the same time. "I think.. my ribs," She wheezed and laughed some more.

* * *

The planes nose tipped more vertical and Nancy was blown back away from the door. Air started to suck out the hatch with force and she clung on for life.

She knew she had missed her opportunity to jump. She looked at the clock. She had about 11 minutes to get off the plane. She quickly made her way into the cabin.

* * *

Frank and Quinn climbed into the car's backseat, through the open windows as Max slowed to a stop. This put Frank and Quinn sitting on either side of Joe.

Joe looked genuinely surprised to see Quinn.

She narrowed her eyes at him and told him to shut up even though he didn't say anything.

"What?" Frank asked, having watched the exchange between the two of them.

"Joe thinks I'm here, because I've had a change of heart. I'm just letting him know that's not the case."

"What is the case?" Max asked.

Quinn shrugged and dropped the bomb on them, "Nancy figured out the plane was rigged to explode."

"What?!" Max and Frank asked at once.

"Yeah, she said she didn't know how to disarm it, so I'm not sure what her plan is."

Fear gripped Frank, and he looked at Joe. A deep understanding of past events passed between them.

"We have to get her off that plane," Frank couldn't keep the desperation out of his voice.

"Don't worry, Frank," Quinn said. "I just met Nancy, and I could tell she's pretty resourceful. I'm sure she's got it covered."

* * *

Nancy couldn't find any escape chutes. She assumed whoever had rigged the plane had taken them with him. Unless they were in the cockpit.

She also couldn't find anything that would help her over power Bache. She knew she was running out of time, so she decided on a plan.

She knocked on the cockpit's door. Then turned the knob.

The door opened and Bache turned and looked at her, clearly surprised to see her and not Quinn Holmes.

"You," He said with a recognition that pleased her.

"Yeah, Nancy Drew." She introduced herself formally. "I came in here to tell you not only that Quinn's off the plane, but the plane's rigged to explode. Do you know how to disarm a bomb?"

Nancy's easiness perplexed Bache, but he did remember her.

She was the reason he was still alive. He had been bleeding out, and she had plugged the bleeding until the paramedics arrived. She had talked to him the whole time. He couldn't remember what she said, but he remembered her. He remembered her voice.

"Where?" He asked.

"In the belly on the plane. The hatch down there is open so be careful."

He looked at her suspiciously.

"Don't worry, I know how to fly." She said trying to deflect his suspicion.

Bache's let a little surprise show on his face, and he continued to remember that she had saved his life once before.

Bache decided. He rose, and Nancy sat. "Anyone else on the plane?"

"Nope," She said, and Bache was surprised he believed her. Bache left her and Nancy focused on turning the plane around so she could land.

* * *

"The plane's turning around!" Max said.

"I knew she could take him," Quinn grinned.

"Get off the run way so she can land," Frank took charge.

Max threw the car out of park and drove out of the way.

"How big was the bomb?" Max wanted to know.

"I don't know, Miller," Quinn spoke to him like he was an idiot. "My dad traffics guns not bombs."

"I'm well aware," He snapped at her. "Did you see a bomb?"

"Do you think I would be here if I didn't see it?" She snapped back.

Max looked like he was strangling the steering wheel, and Frank actually felt for him.

Joe laid his forehead on her shoulder. He still hadn't spoken, but to Quinn it was as if, "Just answer the question, this one time" was radiating off of him.

She spoke with some reluctance, "It looked big to me, but I have no idea."

* * *

Bache came back into the cockpit. Nancy was prepping to land. "You really know how to fly this thing?"

"It's no problem," She started descending.

Bache sat in the co-pilots chair, and strapped in. "I know the bomb. I can't disarm it."

She nodded, focused on landing. A bit of turbulence shook the plane. "How much time?" She asked when rumbling stopped. "Five minutes," He told her.

"We'll make it," She told him.

As Nancy landed the plane she thought how odd it was for her to be having such a civil conversation with such a bad guy. It was a distant thought.

Nancy felt very much like she was detached from everything around her.

The plane rolled to a stop, and she rushed for the door. Bache beside her.

She felt like she was running in slow motion. Bache threw open the door, and shoved Nancy out.

The plane exploded and the blast hit Nancy while she was still in mid-air.

Max and Frank were out of the car and by her side in an instant.

Nancy was out cold, but she was alive.

"Hey, Miller," Frank said.

Max's eyes left Nancy's face and flicked up to Franks.

A wide smile spread across Frank's face.

"What?" Max asked, even though he thought he didn't really want to know.

"I think you're good to call it in."

A lopsided grin crossed Max's face, and he flicked Frank off.

Frank was not put off by the gesture, in fact it made him laugh harder, "You might even tell them you had the right airport after all."

Max laughed with him and joked, "Yeah, sure, maybe that'll get me off the hook."

 **INT. COURT HOUSE - KANSAS CITY MO- 11:00 AM**

 _The trial is in session._

The paramedics have given Joe something that had reduced the swelling in his tongue almost instantly. He had also received some electrotherapy treatment to his body that had helped him regain control of his limbs, but was told he would still have to walk with a cane for the next 24 hours. When he arrived, he saw Quinn sitting on a bench outside the court room where her father's trial was in session.

She saw him and walked over, "Nice cane."

"Nice," He started, then faltered, as his eyes traced over her. She looked more than nice. "Face," He finished poorly.

She laughed, "Yeah, funny how trials work. They want you to look like a queen, but talk like your an innocent babe." She started miming a deeper voice, and Joe figured had to be the mimicking prosecutor in the case. Some guy named Parker Stevenson, who to him looked more like he belonged in the movies instead of the courtroom. "Be likable, but not funny. Be completely honest, but only say what we rehearsed. And for the love of God, do not answer any question with another question."

"Too much work for you, huh?" Joe joked and she rolled her eyes, shrugging. It was quiet then, between the two of them. Joe heard the clatter of footsteps from people walking the hall to and from the elevator, but didn't look away for Quinn.

Quinn stepped closer to him. "Joe?"

"Quinn?" He said with an easy smile.

"I'm glad everything turned out okay, you know. With your brother and all."

"Yeah," Joe replied, knowing very well, that what she just said was probably the closest Quinn Holmes would ever come to apologizing for some of the things that had been said between them in his darkest hours.

She nodded, she understood his acceptance of her apology.

"So what? No guard to make sure you don't split?"

She scoffed, "They know by now if I wanted to be gone, I would be."

More quiet passed between them, but Joe didn't mind. He gave her boyish smile and she returned it with a mischievous one.

She put one hand on his that held the cane and her other hand on his chest, and leaned against him, tilting her face up.

Immediately, the familiar desire for her came to the surface, and his free hand wrapped around to the arch of her back and pulled her even tighter to him.

He bent his head down to kiss her, when one of the old doors to the court room opened with a loud creak, a slash of light illuminated them.

Both had turned at the sound of the creak, where Fox stood and watched the two of them warily. He ushered for Quinn to come to him.

Joe and Quinn separated and it felt awkward and incomplete. He wondered what her kiss would've felt like.

"You've been called to the stand," Fox told Quinn.

Quinn reluctantly started walking towards Fox.

"Quinn, for the people!" Joe called after her with some forced enthusiasm.

She turned and gave Joe her most sardonic smile.

His eyes followed her walk into the court room. He noticed his brother and Nancy sitting in one of the rows. Frank's arm rested comfortably around Nancy.

He smiled and made his way to them.

Frank smiled when he saw Joe and whispered in his brother's ear as he sat down, "So, she decided to testify then?"

Joe shrugged, because when it came to Quinn, the one thing he was sure about, was that she would do what no one was expecting.

"I'll tell you one thing, I do know," Joe whispered back to his brother as Quinn was swearing her oath to tell nothing but the truth.

"What's that?"

"We should drop this whole witness protection nonsense and stick to solving mysteries. That's where it's at."

The brothers had to stifle their laughter, before the judge had the notion to kick them out of court room.

* * *

 **Oh my goodness! And that's the end! My first time writing a fan fiction, I'm pretty proud! I will be writing an epilogue where I plan to share some of Quinn's testimony and answer some of the unanswered questions so if there's something you noticed that you specifically want answered, be sure to ask it in a review, and I'll make sure I answer it. Thank you so much for reading!**


	11. Epilogue: White Lies and Loose Ends

**Well, this is it.. everyone. The epilogue.. It kinda feels like it could be another chapter on it's own. I realized there were a couple scenes with Nancy and Frank and Quinn and Joe that I still wanted to write so I put them in here amongst the bit of testimony and the tying of the loose ends.**

 **Thank you everyone for the reviews. If you still have questions about anything feel free to ask me!**

 **Shout out to Cherylann Rivers and CorkyBookworm1: Both are great writers and reviewers so you should totally take some time to check out their stories on here!**

* * *

 **INT. LOS TULES - KANSAS CITY MO- 6:00PM**

 _Day after the trial results._

Nancy slid into the booth across from Frank.

"Thanks for meeting me," He said, and she noticed a familiar twinkle in his eye.

"Is Joe on his way?" She asked, theory forming.

"He is," He answered, confirming it.

"But you told him we weren't meeting until later."

"I did," He said with some satisfaction that made her heart beat faster.

Nancy was nervous, but didn't let it show. She grinned, "You want to talk about us."

"I do."

"I'm glad."

"Me too."

The silence grew. Despite everything, they were treading softly. Then Nancy went for it.  
"It's all kind of surreal you know. The thought of us being a couple."

"What are you saying?" Frank asked, feeling a sudden tightness, that was all too familiar.

"Just there's something thats always been between us. That pull. But we've never been able to explore it. Decide what it means."

"We've always been in love with someone else," Frank pointed out.

"It wouldn't have been right," Nancy told him.

"It could be now," He responded quietly.

"I know," She whispered.

The universe was pushing and pulling them. But at that moment, all she could see was him holding back.

"I'm sorry, Nancy." He exposed some of the emotion he worked so hard to hide.

"I know," Her voice caught in her throat.

Frank let out a breath and looked away, half a smile on his face, "Of course you know."

Nancy put her hand on his, "It's okay."

Frank looked at her hand, "No, it's not."

When she didn't correct him, he looked up at her, and saw a little fire had started to grow in her eyes. "I want to try. I know I keep self sabotaging this, but my feelings for you.. They're real."

Nancy thought about him taking back the three words he told her over the phone. She drew her hand back. "Are they?"

His eyes hardened. She was the one talking about their pull, their chemistry. She knew it was there. "That's not fair."

"Isn't it?" The bitterness in her tone had Frank rethinking his actions.

"Look your asked me how I could take it back, and I'll tell you."

Just then, Maude, their waitress came and took their drink order. Frank took the liberty in getting Joe's drink as well.

Nancy waited, but Frank didn't say anything more. "I'm listening," She prodded.

"You're really going to drag it out of me, huh?" Frank did not like being the one backed into a corner.

"You offered," She reminded him.

"You're right," He remembered.

Nancy licked her lips and looked over his shoulder towards the restaurants exit. "Look, Frank, you don't have to do this. I can go."

He watched her anger turn to an indifference, and knew she wouldn't hesitate to walk away.

"I'm scared." He said it fast, afraid she would leave. The rest came out, fears spilling on the table. "I'm scared I'll lose you too. I loved Callie. We had everything together. She was everything to me, and then there was you."

Nancy felt her eyes start to swim and fought the tears down. It was too close to her own story. "I understand."

"I've already lost my everything. I can't lose you too."

Nancy saw the tears in his eyes, and it hurt her heart. She slumped back into her seat as he rubbed a hand across his eyes. She noticed the bracelet was back on his wrist.

"You remember when I gave you that bracelet and you told me that you thought I didn't believe in that stuff?"

Frank gained back some composure. "I remember everything about that day."

"Well, then, you know I said that I don't. Not really."

"What are you saying?"

"That I think even if things between us didn't work out.. I don't think we could ever stop however we feel about each other."

He looked at her wondering what she meant by that. Scared to say the wrong thing.

"We're connected, you and I," She told him. "By something bigger than both of us. Something we probably will never truly understand."

He swallowed, "And we keep fighting it."

She nodded, "We do."

Frank let out a breath, and stared at Nancy like he was seeing her for the first time. This time he reached for her hand. "Let's stop fighting it."

Nancy was overwhelmed with emotion; she rippled in it.

He leaned across the booth to kiss her and-

"Do I need to get you two a room?" Joe smirked as they both jumped and broke apart.

"No," Frank said feeling his face heat, and seeing Nancy's cheeks redden too, "but you can leave and come back in ten minutes."

"What? I'm starving," Joe whined.

"Joe," Frank spoke sternly. "Go."

Joe looked from Frank to Nancy, then back to his brother. "Alright! Alright, I'm going. But I don't know what you two think you're going to get away with. This is a crowded restaurant after-"

"GO!" They both yelled at him, reddening even more, and receiving some looks from the other tables.

Joe raised one hand to hold off the assault. "Fine. Make the guy with the cane walk some more, I get it."

But he walked away.

And they surrendered.

 _30 minutes later_

"So, I have to know," Nancy started and she noticed the shield that came up around Joe when she addressed him. "Did you know Quinn was going to that?"

"I told you there, I didn't know what she was going to do. I wanted her to do the right thing."

"Joe," Nancy pressed.

"Look, maybe if the prosecutor had asked her what they practiced, he was suppose to protect her and he blindsided her with her personal life instead."

"How do you know he blindsided her?"

Quinn's testimony had started okay, but had quickly gone down hill fast.

 _"And what do you do for a living?"_

 _"Why does that matter?"_

 _"We're trying to establish repertoire for the jury. And from now on, please let me ask the questions, Ms. Holmes. You just answer them."_

 _"Whatever."_

 _"What do you do for a living?"_

 _"This again?" Quinn looked around the room for help. "This wasn't one of the questions we practiced."_

 _The prosecutor had faltered a bit, and the jury noticed._

 _The judge prompted Quinn. "Ms. Holmes, answer the question."_

 _"Nothing," She relented. "I do nothing."_

 _It wasn't the answer the prosecutor had wanted._

 _"But isn't it true you average 40+ hours a week at different charities, organizations and retirement homes?"_

 _"Voluntarily."_

 _"And why do you do that?"_

 _She looked away from him. "I didn't come here to explain myself, I came here to testify."_

 _"Did you?" He asked her. "Because some would say you came here, because you didn't have a choice. Some would say you spent your time volunteering, because you were paying penance for your father's crimes."_

 _"Objection!" Defense rose. "Council is testifying for the witness, your honor."_

 _"Sustained."_

 _It was asked for the prosecutor's last words to be struck._

 _They watched Max Miller get up from another row and rush out of the court room._

 _It only got worse._

 _"Did you know your father was involved with illegal gun trafficking?"_

 _"You tell me."_

 _"Didn't you tell us before that you've witnessed your father doing gun trades several times."_

 _"Isn't that for the jury to decide?"_

 _It had made Joe sick. Everything he had gone through for the past two weeks felt like a waste. He had stopped listening when his brother had put a hand on his shoulder._

 _"I'm sorry," he whispered._

 _"I don't want to be here," Joe told him. "I can't listen to her do this to herself."_

 _"There is good and bad in everyone, and maybe loving my dad makes me bad," Quinn said in her cross. "As much as I would love to be the hero, save your streets from a monster, putting my Dad away isn't going to stop the monster, but it will sever everything I've ever known."_

"Weren't you listening to her testimony? She basically spelled it out," Joe shot back.

"She got him acquitted, Joe. And you're defending her?" Frank asked surprised.

"I'm not defending her. I'm saying her lawyer messed up. Besides Max found enough evidence from the warehouse to charge him for the murder of his niece. He'll go down for that."

"And that's good enough?" Frank sounded appalled.

"It's gonna have to be."

"You still going to go see her?" Frank wanted to know.

"Frank." They had talked about this after the trial. Frank didn't think it was a good idea. He felt Quinn had changed his brother's views of the black and white world to shades of grey.

Joe reflected that maybe she had. He had always been so driven to catch the bad guys. Now bad guys had families. Had daughters, were daughters. They were regular men and women driven by things he could now understand. Suddenly they weren't monsters, they were human. Just like him.

"Joe, please," Frank pleaded. His brother's new views scared him. In their line of work, they couldn't afford to think like that. Joe was already driven by emotion and if he started to throw empathy in the mix..

Joe exhaled loudly, "Whatever. Just don't say I never do anything for you."

Frank visibly relaxed.

Nancy came to the rescue. "So, let's wrap up these loose ends."

Frank grinned at her, "Yes, ma'am." He looked at his brother. "How'd you get my bracelet? The truck?" Frank lifted his wrist to show it was back where it belong.

"When they tried to, well convinced me that you were dead, they brought in an icebox. In the icebox was a hand. It had the bracelet on it. He told me it was you, and I grabbed the bracelet without realizing what I did.. They were talking about how he was their disposer, it looked like he blew your arm off, and I just did it."

Frank felt as sick as Joe looked. "But it wasn't me. It does say those guys were pretty attentive to detail."

"And I think it solves something else," Nancy put in.

"What?" Joe asked.

"Well, I still don't think Quinn's dad was the one who rigged the plane to blow," Nancy said. "But maybe it was this disposer guy."

"He wouldn't have known that Bache was going to be there," Frank agreed.

"And when I was in the plane with Bache he told me he recognized the bomb," Nancy remembered.

"What else did he tell you?" Frank questioned her, this was new information he hadn't heard before.

"Not much," She shrugged. Nancy had conflicted feelings about Bache. He had hurt the Hardy's, Quinn, and countless people she didn't know, but he had died shoving her out of the plane. Bache had saved her life. She had saved his.

"What about Colby?" Joe asked quietly, thinking of the other man who had ultimately come to his death at the airport.

"I checked into that," Frank told him. "Not only did Holmes's buy his parents company, Colby's family is in a lot of debt. One thing just added up to the next."

Joe shook his head. "He could've been a good agent."

"He wasn't," Frank said pointedly.

Maude stopped by and dropped off their check. Frank pulled out his wallet.

Nancy looked at the the two young men. She realized they wanted to talk, and not with her. She excused herself to the restroom.

Frank watched her leave.

"You really think you handle Nancy Drew?" Joe asked him.

Frank smiled. "I think the real question is can Nancy Drew handle me?"

Joe tsked. "That's a no brainer."

"Hey, now," Frank laughed and Joe smiled.

"No, really," Joe's grin grew. "I happy for you, Bro. Seriously. I've been trying to get a girl to give you a chance for months."

"Oh yeah? But no girl will talk to you?"

"Nah, they fall in love with me before I even have a chance to tell 'em about you," He winked.

Frank made a face, "That's rough, Bro."

"Actually, it's pretty smooth. If you know what I mean."

Frank rolled his eyes. Things were going to be just fine.

 **EXT. LIBERTY MEMORIAL TOWER - DOWNTOWN KANSAS CITY MO- 9:00PM**

Joe leaned against the railing looking out at the skyline of Kansas City. It was raining softly, almost a mist, and it felt good against his aching body.

He was outside of the Liberty Memorial Tower on the grounds of National World War I Museum and Memorial. The inscription on the tower read: In honor of those who served in the World War in defense of liberty and our country.

Joe was turning over his own thoughts of liberty and justice when Quinn silently leaned on the railing beside him. When she spoke it started him.

"You know, star gazing is normally more fulfilling in the country," She told him.

It bothered Joe that she had gotten so close without him knowing. Forgetting that he had once said something similar to her, he replied flatly, "I was just looking at this great city of yours."

She studied him for a minute gaging his mood. "Maybe not my city for much longer."

He looked at her then, and could hear the hope in his own voice, "Your leaving?"

"Yeah," She answered automatically, then shrugged, "Well, I want too. I got fined for perjury and I have to take care of that before I split. Don't really need a warrant out for my arrest."

"You shouldn't have lied on the stand," He told her.

Now, she was sullen. "I didn't lie."

Joe wasn't about to let her off. "Whatever. You still purposely lead the jury to believe something that wasn't true."

"No," She argued, "I told my perspective of things. It just happened not to align with the perspective they wanted me to tell. And now I'm being punished for it."

"How much?" Joe wanted to know.

"How much for what?" She asked, even though she knew.

"The fine," He answered anyway, used to pulling teeth when it came to her.

"It doesn't matter," She shook her head. "I'll pay it. Somehow. Joe, I," She paused like she was trying to finalize her thoughts. "I would do it again the same way." She continued when he stared at her blankly. "Testify, I mean. I don't want to be the reason why my father has to spend the rest of his life in jail. Not when he never did anything wrong by me. And honestly, I don't want to make a name for myself as a snitch."

She didn't know why she told him and knew she had spoke too much when she registered the look of appalled horror on Joe's face. She knew Joe was thinking of the people who had died from her father's involvement in the gun smuggling ring. Like Max Miller's young niece.

"Why? Cause it's your fault your father smuggles and sales guns or is it because you're a budding criminal?" He asked harshly.

"It's the life I know," She said simply, and Joe felt his anger defusing to pity.

They both stared out at the city for awhile.

"Joe?"

"Quinn?"

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow after my doctor's appointment."

"Oh." She looked at him without turning her head. "Are you still in a lot of pain?"

"No," He lied. "Not really."

She nodded.

The wind picked up a bit and Joe and Quinn unconsciously moved closer together.

"I'm letting you go, my love. Pick anywhere and be free," Joe recited the note from memory. "Where were you going to choose?"

"Egypt."

Not only did the answer surprise him, but that she had answered almost instantly after he asked.

"Can I ask why?" He really was curious.

"Their culture and history has always interested me," She explained.

"You okay?" He asked her.

"Why? Cause I'm intrigued by Egyptian culture?"

"No, cause you answered two questions in a row without a fight."

She laughed and then looked behind her at the tower. "You know the view of the city is much better from up there."

"It's closed," He said.

"Oh my," She said. "If I let that stop me, I wouldn't be much of a budding criminal now would I?"

She winked at him and Joe let her lead him to the tower.

He was completely exhausted by the time they made it to the top. The elevator had only went so far.

It had been worth it.

They stood and looked out at the breathtaking view of the city even at night. Fire-like lights at the top of the tower, he would later learn were called "The Flame of Inspiration", illuminated them and reflected the misty rain.

Joe knew after tonight he wouldn't see Quinn again. He hoped she would leave the life she knew in exchange for a new beginning. He was able to make peace with the belief that she would. He knew when he embarked on his new adventures and met new people, Quinn's choices would slowly become extraneous to him. As he eventually would be to her. His heart recognized the loss and ached.

The two of them stayed up there for a half hour, reflecting on what they had endured and overcome in the last weeks. Each coming to their own conclusions.

They didn't talk, touch, or even try to make up for the kiss that had been interrupted outside the courtroom.

They were content.

In those moments, it was the best they could be.


End file.
